GOOGLE US
Ohio State blows out Indiana, 38-15. Now, it's time to do the same to That Team Up North.
Mike Weber knew he had big shoes to fill.
After Carlos Hyde and Ezekiel Elliott spoiled Ohio State fans for three-straight years (Hyde for one, Elliott the next two), Weber was always going to be compared to the two who came before him.
“I hear it all the time,” the Buckeyes’ starting running back said earlier this season.
And, by most accounts, Weber did enough in his first year as the starter to solidify himself as a more than adequate replacement. Just a redshirt freshman, the Detroit native has 1,072 rushing yards and nine touchdowns through the first 12 games of this season — his first playing college football.
| Year | player | rushing yards |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Maurice Clarett | 1,237 |
| 1990 | Robert Smith | 1,126 |
| 2015 | Mike Weber | 1,072 |
Those numbers put Weber in rare company in school history, too, as he is just the third Ohio State player ever to top 1,000 rushing yards as a freshman. Robert Smith ran for 1,126 yards as a true freshman in 1990 and Maurice Clarett totaled 1,237 rushing yards as a freshman star on the Buckeyes’ 2002 national championship team.
Weber is technically in his second year in the program, but he’s still a redshirt freshman so the feat is impressive nonetheless.
“It means a lot,” Weber said following Ohio State's win over Michigan State — the game in which he topped the 1,000-yard mark. “It’s a goal that I had set at the beginning of the year. I owe my offensive line a lot and we executed to make it happen.”
Wow 1000 ... yeahhhhh slobs
— Mike Weber (@mikeweberjr) November 19, 2016
Weber was recently named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after his breakout campaign. His season got even better Monday when he was named to the USA TODAY freshman All-American team.
He’ll play an enormous role in Ohio State attempting to capture its second national championship in the last three seasons, too, as the Buckeyes face Clemson in a national semifinal on Dec. 31.
During 2014, it was the postseason when Elliott became a household name. In Ohio State’s three-game run to the national title — the Big Ten title game, Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff national championship game — the then-sophomore Elliott ran for 696 yards and eight touchdowns. He went from honorable mention all-conference tailback to a serious preseason Heisman Trophy favorite for the following season.
That was Elliott’s first year as the starter, and while it’d be a bit unfair to expect the same type of leap from Weber, it’s again something he’s been hearing since he knew the starting job was going to be his after Elliott left early for the NFL.
“Try to be Zeke,” head coach Urban Meyer said earlier this season. “That’s the thing we try to do around here. In all seriousness, there are standards. Be Vonn Bell. Be [Joey] Bosa. Those are standards that have been set here so yeah, go do it.”
Being compared to Elliott and Hyde may not stop until Weber actually leaves Ohio State.
But he's well on his way to making the Buckeyes' next starting running back answer questions about being the next Mike Weber.
