Months after Evan Pryor was lost for the season, Ohio State's running back depth took another hit when Ryan Day announced on Tuesday that TC Caffey would be out for the year.
Caffey, a freshman walk-on from Hubbard, Ohio, had been thrust into a role as the team's fourth tailback after Pryor suffered a season-ending knee injury in fall camp and received carries in Ohio State's matchups with Toledo and Michigan State.
Against the Rockets, Caffey took a carry 49 yards for a touchdown, which stands as the second-longest touchdown run this season for the Buckeyes behind Miyan Williams' 70-yard scoring run in the Rutgers game. Caffey added five more carries for nine yards in the Toledo contest and took four carries for nine yards against Michigan State.
Down Pryor and Caffey, Day said Tuesday that Chip Trayanum, who transferred to Ohio State to play linebacker but was a running back for two seasons at Arizona State, will remain at running back rather than linebacker for the rest of the year.
“We lost TC for the year, so he won't be available. It's a long-term issue,” Day said at a press conference in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. “He had been doing some good things for us, so we felt like we needed to provide some more depth at the position. Chip had really come to us a couple of weeks ago and said, ‘Hey, listen. If you need anything on offense. I'm here for you,’ which is the way he is. He's an unbelievable person and has a great attitude.”
Trayanum’s first action at running back came against Iowa on Saturday when he took a handoff from backup quarterback Kyle McCord for nine yards on the final play of the game. He displayed the same vision and quickness that allowed him to rush for 672 yards and 10 touchdowns in his two years as a Sun Devil in 2020 and 2021.
“We felt like the time was right,” Day said of Trayanum's move to running back. “That means (Palaie Gaoteote) needs to do a good job of stepping up over there and be the fourth linebacker for us. We get Teradja back, so we felt like we had some depth over there at linebacker and Chip could help us on offense.”
Beyond the long-term injuries in the running back room, TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams have dealt with ailments that have kept them from participating in games. Henderson was ruled out for Ohio State's matchup with Rutgers, while Williams did not travel with the team for the Michigan State contest.
That means Trayanum could be called upon to take carries as the Buckeyes push deeper into the latter half of the season. Even though he spent the first half of the season on defense, Trayanum’s experience as a running back offers Day confidence that he will be up for the task, especially after what he showed with his lone opportunity against Iowa.
“He certainly has some experience from playing there last year,” Day said. “It was good to get him out there and get him a part of the unit because we're gonna need him.”
