After getting the opportunity to give their feedback during Ohio State’s search for a new running backs coach, the Buckeyes’ running backs are happy with the end result.
Ryan Day included Ohio State’s running backs in the search process, soliciting feedback from them on each of the candidates the Buckeyes interviewed as they sought to find a new position coach who would be a good fit for the unit. Collectively, the running backs agreed with Day and Chip Kelly that Carlos Locklyn would be the right guy to lead their room going forward.
“He has a great background,” Dallan Hayden said Wednesday. “As a whole, we felt like he would be the best guy, and Coach Day knew that.”
Locklyn just arrived at Ohio State for his first practice on Wednesday, so the Buckeyes’ running backs are still getting to know him. Locklyn was more of an observer than a coach during Wednesday’s practice as he got acclimated to Ohio State and learned how the Buckeyes’ coaching staff operates.
Day 1 as a Buckeye
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That said, he made a positive first impression on the three Ohio State running backs who met with the media after Wednesday’s practice.
“In this practice alone, really, he just takes people aside, tells them exactly what they need to do right then, right there,” said TC Caffey. “You can tell he's a real straightforward guy. But he still loves his players and loves to be a coach.”
Some of Ohio State’s running backs already knew Locklyn from the recruiting process. Quinshon Judkins got to know Locklyn when he was being recruited by Florida State, where Locklyn was the director of high school relations in 2020. Judkins said he and Locklyn bonded over their shared background, as both of them grew up in the Montgomery, Alabama area.
While Judkins didn’t end up going to Florida State, starting his college career at Ole Miss before transferring to Ohio State this offseason, he’s excited to be coached by Locklyn now.
“You can see where he's coached and how he is as a person, he's very high-energy, very intense and I think he's very hands-on. So I think it'll be awesome to be working with Coach Locklyn,” Judkins said.
Hayden has also known Locklyn since his youth as Locklyn was a high school coach in Hayden’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, before joining the staff at the University of Memphis from 2017-19.
“He’s a really good ball coach. Really good guy,” Hayden said.
Caffey just met Locklyn for the first time this week but is confident Locklyn will be a good fit for the Buckeyes.
“He's a real good guy,” Caffey said. “And I'm really just excited to learn from him and see things that he's gonna instill on us.”
“You can tell he's a real straightforward guy. But he still loves his players and loves to be a coach.”– TC Caffey on new Ohio State running backs coach Carlos Locklyn
Day made sure to involve the running backs in the process of hiring a new position coach because of the unusual timing of Tony Alford’s departure. Alford was with the Buckeyes for their first week of spring practice, but left for Michigan during the team’s spring break.
Both Hayden and Judkins said it was tough to hear that Alford would be leaving in the middle of spring practice, but they said they were understanding of his decision.
“Coach Alford was a big part of why I came to Ohio State, so to see him leave was sad,” Hayden said. “But you know, he has a family to take care of. So I completely understood.”
Judkins said he was “pretty surprised” by Alford’s exit but that it doesn’t lessen his enthusiasm about choosing to transfer to Ohio State.
“Just with the situation of college football, where it is today, I understood. Coach Alford had to do what was best for him. But I'm here at Ohio State, not only just for everything around it, but I'm just here for the university in itself,” Judkins said. “So I think just focusing on the bigger picture, and the brotherhood that's here and what's important to me, that's what I was focusing on.”
The silver lining of being without a running backs coach for a portion of spring practice was that it allowed the running backs to receive more hands-on coaching from Day, who’s coached the running backs himself for the past three weeks. Judkins believes the running backs have grown from being coached directly by the head coach, who humorously announced his departure from the position group on Wednesday.
“He just told us like, ‘Look, guys, it's probably my last week with y’all and I'm out,’” Judkins said with a laugh. “But Coach Day has been awesome. He's taught us a lot of different things as far as scheme and different positions that he's coached overall … it meant a lot to have Coach Day in those meetings teaching us everything that he's put in and implementing it into our game and showing us how he specifically wants it.”
