Toledo Notebook: Julian Fleming Scores Two Touchdowns in Return, Dallan Hayden Seizes His Opportunity and the Defense Finally Forces Turnovers

Julian Fleming’s first game of the 2022 season proved to be worth the wait.

Entering the third year of an Ohio State career that’s been defined more by injuries than on-field production so far, Fleming suffered yet another setback in the week leading up to the Buckeyes’ season opener against Notre Dame. But after missing the first two games of the year, Fleming came back in a big way on Saturday, catching two touchdown passes – just the second and third touchdown catches of his Ohio State career – in the Buckeyes’ 77-21 win over Toledo.

This pass and catch combo from Stroud to Fleming gets better every time you watch

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Julian Fleming gets his second TD of the night

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Following Saturday’s game, Fleming said “it ripped me apart a little bit” to suffer yet another injury leading up to the season, but he tried to keep a positive mindset and work toward getting back on the field as quickly as possible. After an offseason in which he was named an Iron Buckeye for being one of the team’s hardest workers throughout the winter, spring and summer, Fleming finally got to reap the rewards of that work in Week 3.

“There's been a lot of trials and tribulations that I've had to go through to get to this point, but just be able to go out there and play with my team, one of the best teams in our country, it’s a great experience,” Fleming said.

Fleming said Saturday allowed him to “knock the rust off” after missing the first two weeks, and he views it as a building block for what he can do when Big Ten play begins next week. Ryan Day is hopeful Saturday will be only the beginning of a big year ahead for Fleming.

“He really made great progress, has the Iron Buckeye, the whole thing, he’s got a lot of momentum, and he gets this little tweak. The easy thing to do is get really frustrated. He didn't do that. He stayed positive, took care of his business, did a great job of rehabbing it and then to go see him make some plays tonight and get rewarded off of that was great,” Day said. “That's big for him.”

Breakout game for Hayden

When TreVeyon Henderson left Saturday night’s game with an injury after just one possession, the door opened for Dallan Hayden to play a big role as the Buckeyes’ No. 3 running back. The true freshman seized that opportunity in a big way.

While Miyan Williams played the majority of the first and second quarters after Henderson’s exit, Hayden was Ohio State’s running back for the entire third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter after he relieved Williams late in the first half. Just one week after making his Ohio State debut, Hayden ended up leading the Buckeyes with 17 rushing attempts and 108 rushing yards against the Rockets, highlighted by a 45-yard gain and a goal-line touchdown run.

The first of many career TDs for Dallan Hayden

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Just a couple of months ago, almost no one – including Hayden himself – would have envisioned that he would have a 100-yard game in the first month of his freshman season. After all, Hayden was supposed to be the Buckeyes’ No. 4 running back this year until Evan Pryor went down with a season-ending knee injury in August.

Once Pryor went down, though, Hayden knew he would need to be ready to play this year. By rushing for more than six yards per attempt and taking care of the football on a heavy workload against Toledo, Hayden showed that he was ready on Saturday.

“Quite honestly, no,” Hayden said when asked if he expected to have a 100-yard game so early in his Ohio State career. “It's crazy, because like you never know what can happen, so you just always have to stay ready and that's what Coach Alford and all the coaches tell me. You never know when your number's gonna get called, so you gotta stay ready no matter what.”

Day was impressed by Hayden’s performance, though he wasn’t necessarily surprised because of how Hayden has performed on the practice field since his arrival at Ohio State this summer.

“I thought Dallan ran hard. He's done that practice,” Day said. “So to see him in really his first time out play like this, you can see his quickness in the hole, he's got good vision, he's got power and he's got a chance to be a really good back.”

Takeaway drought is over

While Ohio State’s offense had one of the most prolific performances in school history against Toledo, the Buckeyes’ defense had its worst performance of the season to date, giving up three touchdowns – two more than they allowed in their first two games combined.

There was one category, though, where the Buckeye defense had its best performance of the season to date: Takeaways.

After forcing zero turnovers in otherwise dominant defensive performances against Notre Dame and Arkansas State, the Buckeyes came up with their first two forced turnovers of the season – one interception and one fumble recovery – against the Rockets.

The elusive first takeaway of the season came on Toledo’s opening drive of the second half, when Ronnie Hickman became the first Buckeye to intercept a pass this season.

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“We have goals each week want to get two-plus takeaways each week,” Hickman said after the game. “We weren't able to do that the first two weeks, so I'm just glad I was able to get that rolling today.”

The second takeaway and first fumble recovery of the season came in the fourth quarter, when Jean-Baptiste worked his way around Toledo’s right tackle to hit Rockets backup quarterback Tucker Gleason and knock the ball out of his hands on a strip sack, after which Palaie Gaoteote dove on the loose ball to secure possession for Ohio State.

While the Buckeyes would take allowing zero touchdowns and forcing no turnovers over giving up three touchdowns and forcing two turnovers any day, Day was glad the defense finally got some takeaways under its belt.

“It was good to get two turnovers on defense. Any time you can do that, when the offense is moving the way it does, that’s how you flip the scoreboard, and we did in the second half,” Day said.