With Marquise Davis officially off the board and headed to Kentucky (and not Michigan), the top of Ohio State’s running back priority list for 2025 is abundantly clear.
While the Buckeyes could take up to three tailbacks this cycle, two running backs stand out above the rest at the top of their wish list: Four-star California prospect Jordon Davison and four-star Ohio standout Bo Jackson.
Both Davison and Jackson are top-100 prospects in the 2025 class per 247Sports’ composite rankings. Both visited Columbus at the end of March for a spring practice. The pair of highly-touted recruits briefly caught up during their visit, and Jackson told Eleven Warriors he enjoyed conversing with the Mater Dei product.
The pair have both been longtime targets of Ohio State, but it was fair to wonder where their recruitment would stand with the Buckeyes considering former running backs coach Tony Alford departed for Michigan in March and was eventually replaced by former Oregon running backs coach Carlos Locklyn.
In short, so far, so good. Davison has long been projected to eventually end up in Columbus, but what about Jackson? It wouldn’t be surprising if both running backs eventually choose to don the scarlet and gray before all is said and done.
Speaking with Jackson following Sunday’s Under Armour Camp in Canton, the standout recruit says he already had a “really good” relationship with Locklyn while he was the running backs coach at Oregon. But Jackson said he’s noticed the communication picking up much more frequently between him and Locklyn since Locklyn took over for Alford last month.
When Locklyn first arrived on campus, he proclaimed himself as more of a relationship-builder rather than a recruiter. Jackson assessed that he hasn’t noticed any difference from how he’s been recruited by Locklyn since he changed jobs.
“It’s been really good, we’ve been talking probably every other day,” Jackson said of his relationship with Locklyn since he arrived at Ohio State. “It’s a nice relationship right now. We just talk casually and he wants to know what I’ve got going on.”
Jackson said he noticed how intense Locklyn was right away from their first meeting, a quality he appreciates because he also considers himself intense.
OSU hasn’t just been relying on Jackson’s previous relationship with Locklyn in its recruiting pitch for the coveted in-state player. The Buckeyes have pitched Jackson on playing in Chip Kelly’s offense, which has long drawn acclaim through the industry for its run schemes.
“They say with a new offensive coordinator they’re going to get the ball to the running back a lot in the backfield,” Jackson said. “Throwing the ball, running the ball, everything. My parents and I had a good talk with Chip (on my visit to OSU). The way he’s got everything set up in the offense, it feels like it’s going to open up everything with everything spaced out.”
Jackson hasn’t set any official visits to any school as of yet, but plans on taking an official visit to Ohio State sometime this summer. While he doesn’t have a specific timeline in mind for a commitment, Jackson says he’d like to end his recruitment sometime before the start of his senior year. OSU sits in a good spot with Jackson, but Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and others are also meriting consideration from the Ohio product.
“We’ll try to do it before football season, but we’ll see how it plays out,” Jackson said of a potential summer commitment.
Whenever he decides to make a college decision, the Buckeyes will be firmly in the running.
“They’re a winning program. They compete for national championships every year,” Jackson said of the most appealing thing about potentially playing for Ohio State.
