Chip Trayanum’s Ohio State career hasn’t gone the way he thought it would when he decided to become a Buckeye two years ago.
It’s gone even better.
When Trayanum decided to transfer to Ohio State in December 2021, he thought his days as a running back were over. Trayanum was recruited by the Buckeyes to play linebacker, and he made the move from Arizona State to Ohio State expecting to play only on defense in Columbus. But Trayanum has always loved carrying the ball and was a running back at Arizona State, so when injuries decimated Ohio State’s running back depth chart last year, Trayanum volunteered to switch positions to help the team.
A year later, Trayanum is still playing his favorite position and making a significant impact for Ohio State’s offense, and he believes his stint as a linebacker has only made him a better ballcarrier.
“Right now, it’s definitely working out better than I expected,” Trayanum told Eleven Warriors. “Just gaining more knowledge on the defensive side of things and then switching back to running back, just gaining that knowledge and then just ultimately honing back in on my running back skills that I hadn’t been working on the whole past year. So everything's coming together, like a whole puzzle.”
When he decided to stay at running back this year, there was no guarantee he would see significant playing time in a deep running back room led by TreVeyon Henderson and also including Miyan Williams, Dallan Hayden and Evan Pryor. But Trayanum had faith in his ability to make an impact for the Buckeyes on offense because of how he was able to reacclimate to the position last season.
“I knew faith was gonna come around, just from little things throughout like spring or fall last year, I might go to running back for like one day,” Trayanum said. “So everybody knew what I could do at running back, but I'm just thankful that I finally had the opportunity to join the guys back in the running back room, and it’s been history since.”
Throughout the season, Trayanum has worn eye black with a simple saying written on it: “Me vs. Me.” That’s a reflection of his belief that the only person who can stop him from achieving his goals is himself, and it’s that mentality that’s helped drive him to the success he’s found in Ohio State’s first four games.
“It's just something that I truly believe day in and day out,” Trayanum said. “I believe that I can only stop myself whenever I'm on this field. I don't think nobody else can stop me. It's just the mentality of every rep that I take. So every one-on-one battle, I know that I can win, but ultimately, it's just ‘Am I gonna do the things I need to do to win the battle?’ So that's why it just comes down to me vs. me.”
Trayanum’s ability to be an impact player this season became quickly apparent in Ohio State’s season opener at Indiana, when he played the second-most snaps among running backs behind Henderson and gained 69 yards on just nine touches. It became more apparent in Ohio State’s third game of the season against Western Kentucky, when he scored his first touchdown as a Buckeye on a 40-yard run. One week later, Trayanum etched his name into Ohio State lore for years to come by powering the ball into the end zone for a game-winning 1-yard touchdown with just one second left to play against Notre Dame.
WHAT A CALL!
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 24, 2023
WHAT A PLAY! pic.twitter.com/YDsDwaKLkN
Trayanum doesn’t deny how special that moment was for him. He said he’s watched the replay of the touchdown many times over, and he’s watched the video of Ohio State’s post-touchdown celebration even more. But he strives for that touchdown to be just the beginning of what he accomplishes as a Buckeye.
“The first thing I told Coach Alford that following Monday was having that moment is great and all, but I didn't come to Ohio State to have one moment. I came here to have many moments,” Trayanum said. “So I'm just using that as motivation just to keep striving and keep pushing to greatness.”
Ask any of Trayanum’s teammates, and they’ll tell you they aren’t surprised by the success he’s having this season. They saw his potential to be an impact player during the offseason, when Trayanum was named an Iron Buckeye as one of Ohio State’s hardest workers.
“Chip has always been super mature, and he's always been a leader. He really immersed himself in the culture when he got here from Arizona State. And it was like he's been here since day one. So Chip’s always been a guy you can rely on,” Emeka Egbuka said. “We only have three captains this year, but if we had a fourth, it would probably be Chip. So he's just a really great dude to have on your side of the ball. Because you know he's gonna get his job done. You know he's gonna lead the team.”
Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford isn’t surprised by the impact Trayanum has already made this season, either, though he acknowledges Trayanum’s performance has “probably exceeded” his preseason expectations.
“He said he wanted to continue to stay on offense, then we started saying, ‘Well, what else can he do?’ at 233-235 pounds,” Alford told Eleven Warriors. “What other skills does he have besides just sitting back and carrying the ball? Can we put him in as a lead blocker on some things? Can we get him out on some routes and packages? So the more he was able to show that he could do made it comfortable for us to use him in different situations.
“He can make some big runs at 235 pounds. He's fast, he can run for his size. And how much information could he retain? That's probably the thing (that’s enabled him to play a big role) because there’s a lot of things we've asked him to do ... he's shown the capacity to hold onto that mentally.”
Trayanum’s versatility has been on full display this season as he has lined up at both running back and fullback and even left the backfield on occasion to line up as a slot receiver or tight end. His blocking led the way for Miyan Williams to score a pair of touchdowns in the season opener at Indiana, and he would have led Williams to another one the following week if not for a holding penalty against Trayanum that Big Ten officials later told Ryan Day should not have been called.
Truth: @OhioStateFB's Miyan Williams is so tough to bring down.
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 2, 2023
: CBS pic.twitter.com/YuprhZnhTo
Williams punches it in for the Buckeyes!
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 2, 2023
TOUCHDOWN @OhioStateFB ! pic.twitter.com/wOeQk86J9n
Trayanum wouldn’t have thought he’d be playing fullback at Ohio State. But he’s embraced that role as another way to help his team.
“I love my role here because I love my brothers,” Trayanum said after his first game playing fullback. “So whatever the role called for, that's what I'm gonna fulfill, and I'm gonna do my due diligence 110%.”
Trayanum’s selflessness is a quality that’s drawn consistent praise from his teammates and coaches.
“He's 100% a team player,” said Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon. “It's not easy to get changed from position to position after transferring. So he's showing that all he cares about is Ohio State and the Buckeyes. And I'm so proud of him and so happy that he was able to make that big play, and he's showing the world really that all his effort and all his training and everything he did in the offseason, he was one of the hardest workers on our team. So I'm just so happy for him.”
Marvin Harrison Jr. said Trayanum’s team-first approach has earned him respect throughout the roster.
“That's the kind of do-it-all guy,” Harrison said. “I think he's worked very hard to be able to excel in the pass game and run game. He came here playing linebacker, to move over to running back now, he's a team-first kind of guy, and he can do whatever we need him to do as a team to help us win. So I respect Chip a lot. He's one of the most respected players in our program. So for him to get that touchdown, I was super proud of him because like I said, he came here as a linebacker and then moved to running back. He just does whatever he needs to do to help the team win.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who recruited Trayanum to transfer to Ohio State as a linebacker, said he would have loved to keep Trayanum at that position. But he praised Trayanum as a “team guy” who is “gonna do whatever coaches ask him.”
Alford has seen that same approach since Trayanum moved to the running back room midway through last season.
“He's just unselfish. That’s who he is. You listen to him in the meetings, and he's a leader in the meeting room … He's helped the young players,” Alford said. “Wiltrell Hartson, a freshman walk-on, he kind of helps mentor him in how to take notes and things like that. So he brings so much value. He's got a great attitude. He's got a very positive attitude about things that's infectious.”
Make no mistake about it, though: Trayanum isn’t disappointed about the way things have turned out. While he didn’t come to Ohio State expecting to play running back, he’s glad that’s where he ended up.
“I love having the ball in my hands, so nah, that’s definitely not a sacrifice,” Trayanum said.
Even after his heroic touchdown at Notre Dame, Trayanum’s role could still fluctuate from game to game. Henderson remains Ohio State’s starting running back, and Day indicated Thursday that Williams could be in line to play a bigger role in the running back rotation this week against Maryland after what he described as “a really good week of practice.”
Trayanum’s elite mix of size and speed at 5-foot-11 and 233 pounds and versatility to be more than just a tailback, though, ensures he’ll continue to be a valuable piece of Ohio State’s offense throughout the season.
So far this season, Trayanum has rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and caught two passes for 24 yards. Alford says there is still more the Buckeyes can do with Trayanum that they haven’t yet shown.
“There's a lot of things that we've practiced but we haven't done in a game yet,” Alford said. “Just game situations haven't either allowed it or it’s not in that plan for that week and some things we maybe not have gotten to. But I think there's some things he can do that we haven't yet seen or done.”
“Having that moment is great and all, but I didn't come to Ohio State to have one moment. I came here to have many moments.”– Chip Trayanum on building off of his game-winning touchdown
While Trayanum doesn’t know how much playing time he’ll get from one week to the next, he knows he can control how hard he works in practice and how he leads his teammates. And he believes he’ll be able to be more of a leader than he already was now that he has a game-winning play under his belt.
“I'm just a firm believer in like whatever you do in the game, it just reflects like how much leadership you can bring to a team and just having a moment like just instills more leadership that I can bring to the team,” Trayanum said.
And whenever Trayanum’s number is called and he gets more opportunities to make plays, he believes he can deliver just like he did in South Bend.
“I'm just trying to create more game-winning moments like that, just special moments that’ll help bond our team and catapult us to where we need to be by the end of the year,” Trayanum said.
