Freshman Bo Jackson takes over running back room for Ohio State

His name puts a lot of pressure on him to perform. But Bo Jackson likes the pressure. He feeds off of it.

The first-year running back for the Ohio State Buckeyes has been on an absolute tear since the start of the 2025 season. He did not play for the Buckeyes in the team's season opener against the Texas Longhorns, but after that game, the coaching staff gave him a chance to shine and he hasn't looked back.

Through three games, he has rushed the ball 35 times for 297 yards, an average of 8.5 yards per carry, and one touchdown. He hasn't been absent in the receiving game either, bringing the ball in for three catches for 26 yards, good enough for 8.7 yards per catch.

His best game so far came against Grambling State where he rushed nine times for 108 yards and one touchdown.

For an offense that lost the likes of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson to the 2025 NFL Draft, they needed a body to emerge in the running back room. Both backs rushed for over 1,000 yards in their final collegiate seasons.

Jackson hasn't just emerged as an average guy who can take a couple handoffs and put together decent yardage, he has excelled with bursts of speed with chunk carry after chunk carry.

And now, the running back room looks like it's his.

Against the Washington Huskies this past weekend, Jackson played 30 snaps, while running backs CJ Donaldson and James Peoples recorded 19 and 16 respectively. The Buckeyes went on to beat the Huskies, 24-6.

So far, it seems that the team is leaning to Jackson and Donaldson as the more running threats, with Peoples being a receiving target.

While Donaldson was the starter on Saturday and found the endzone twice, the Buckeyes showed trust in the freshman Jackson as he was given more snaps.

He currently leads the running back room in yards, yards per attempt and yards per game by a large margin. Donaldson has just seven more attempts than Jackson, but has rushed for 107 yards less, has 4.0 less yards per attempt and over 50 yards less per game. However, he has been given more red zone moments with three touchdowns this season, two occurring against the Huskies within the five yard-line.

Obviously, Jackson still has things to improve upon, but the true freshman is giving the Buckeyes the best chance to have a lethal rushing attack.

The team currently ranks within the Top 50 in the nation in rushing offense with an average of 181.3 yards and roughly two touchdowns a game.

Jackson being RB1 doesn't mean that Donaldson is out of the equation, if anything it will help both grow and develop a one-two-punch.

The program did it before with Judkins and Henderson, and they may have accidentally found their next two just as quickly as they graduated the two NFL talents.