Despite Limited Carries, Ohio State Running Back TreVeyon Henderson Flashes Big-Play Ability in the Buckeyes' Win Over Youngstown State

A small sample size didn’t stop TreVeyon Henderson from securing a bit of momentum two weeks into the season.

The junior broke off three runs of at least 9 yards, with two additional jaunts of such distance negated by penalties. He pushed out another double-digit gain for the offense on a 13-yard screen pass in the second quarter.

“Tre had a great fall camp, looks really good, and I think had that explosive step that he maybe didn’t have last year because he was hurt a little bit,” Kyle McCord said. “A healthy TreVeyon Henderson is scary.”

For an Ohio State offense that craves the ability to break off big plays on a week-in, week-out basis, seeing signs that Henderson can deliver on the promise of his five-star recruiting profile and breakout freshman season had both McCord and Ryan Day beaming in their postgame press conferences.

“You can see the explosiveness, and having him healthy is a home run threat at any point in the game,” Day said. “That’s what’s fun about being around an explosive offense. That’s why I keep telling the quarterbacks, ‘You don’t have to make extraordinary plays. You’ve just got to make the routine plays routinely because we have these guys.'”

Henderson averaged 11.2 yards per carry Saturday, picking up 56 yards on a mere five totes with two touchdowns. He added two catches for 18 yards.

“A healthy TreVeyon Henderson is scary.”– Kyle McCord

Those rushing numbers tick up to eight carries for 83 yards and three scores when including plays that were called back for either holding or illegal hands to the face penalties against Henderson’s offensive line. That included a 17-yard touchdown run in the second quarter – though Henderson eventually scored on the drive from 13 yards out.

Day wanted to give his top back more carries, but the offense as a whole didn’t get a lot of chances Saturday.

“When you have 60 plays, there’s just not a lot of rushes to go around,” Day said. “It is what it is. I really wanted to try to get TreVeyon the ball. There were two runs that he had that were holds (and one negated by illegal hands to the face). He did have two catches. He had the two screens. We’ve got to keep trying to find ways to get him the ball as well. Running the ball, but then also out in space because he’s so good in space. You see how fast he is when he gets to that edge. He’s got a chance to go (to the endzone).”

While not a big gainer, Henderson showed off his athleticism by hurdling over a defender and landing on his feet for a 2-yard run in the second quarter.

Hurdlin' Henderson @TreVeyonH4 x @OhioStateFB

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The first of Henderson’s two touchdowns came on a 13-yard knife through the middle of Youngstown State’s defense on an inside zone handoff out of shotgun. Henderson slashed through a hole behind left tackle Josh Simmons and trucked over YSU safety Tyjon Jones while extending the football forward.

So much power @TreVeyonH4 x @OhioStateFB

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— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) September 9, 2023

Though it was initially ruled that Henderson fumbled before he crossed the goal line, replay overturned the call to a touchdown after a brief review.

“He came over and felt awful about reaching that ball out,” Day said. “But man, he hit that hole hard. He was running downhill today when he had an opportunity to, and that was a great step. I was very impressed with that.”

Arguably the most impressive of Henderson’s runs was still to come.

Henderson took a handoff from Devin Brown and was met by a Youngstown State defender in the backfield. Henderson accelerated around the end to evade him, then out-sped Ohio State-turned-Youngstown State defensive back Marcus Hooker and coasted into the end zone off a downfield block by Marvin Harrison Jr. to score from 30 yards out.

TreVeyon x @TreVeyonH4 x @OhioStateFB

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Such plays with multiple cuts and accelerations are what Henderson may have missed when running on a broken foot through much of 2022.

“I think he’s shown flashes of it,” McCord said. “Last year and then this year with him starting to get healthy again and get his feet under him, you see it. You know how electric he is, and we’ve been using him out of the backfield, too.”

“You can see the explosiveness, and having him healthy is a home run threat at any point in the game.”– Ryan Day

Now it’s a matter of getting Henderson more touches, a theme for many of Ohio State’s players, it seems, with the clock now running after first downs and smaller opponents playing slow-tempo offense to take advantage.

“He’s going to have to be in games where he runs the ball more,” Day said. “We’ll keep doing that. But again, I just go back to, in a game like this where the clock is running and I’m looking at it, I’m just thinking about throwing the ball more so that we can get more plays. I just feel like there’s a lot of guys on our team that deserve to play.”

Still, whether by land or by air, the opposing end zone is where Ohio State believes a healthy Henderson will be.

“Any way that we can get the ball in Tre’s hands, it’s a win for the Buckeyes,” McCord said.