When Dallan Hayden entered the transfer portal in April, the likelihood that James Peoples and/or Sam Williams-Dixon will play significant snaps for Ohio State in their freshman year increased significantly.
While Ohio State has what should be the nation’s running back tandem in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins atop the depth chart, Peoples and Williams-Dixon are the only other scholarship tailbacks on the roster. Should Henderson or Judkins miss any time, the Buckeyes would need either Peoples or Williams-Dixon to play at least some snaps at the position. Even if Judkins and Henderson both play every game, Ohio State will still look for opportunities to rest them in hopes of keeping them fresh and healthy for a deep College Football Playoff run.
Ohio State would surely like to still have Hayden or another veteran running back – even walk-on TC Caffey, who was in the mix for playing time before going down with a season-ending knee injury this summer – to provide additional depth behind Judkins and Henderson. But a strong first week of preseason camp for both Peoples and Williams-Dixon, who were also impressive during the spring, has provided reason to believe they’ll be prepared to step up if called upon.
Asked to assess their readiness on Wednesday, both of them described themselves as “very confident” in their ability to play right away.
“When Dallan left, I was like, ‘Me and James got this,’ for real,” Williams-Dixon said. “We got this and we're going to go do what we do.”
Peoples said he will “definitely be ready” if called upon to play as a freshman.
“I feel very confident because of the intensity of practice that we've been through, with (running backs coach Carlos Locklyn) and how much they enforce and push us past our limit, I feel like if they call my number, I'll definitely be ready,” Peoples said. “And the more we go through fall camp, that just gets me more and more ready for whenever my number's called.”
There have been plenty of examples of true freshman running backs achieving immediate success at Ohio State over the years. Peoples and Williams-Dixon have one they can look to in their unit right now in Henderson, who set an Ohio State record by scoring 19 touchdowns as a freshman in 2021. He also ran for 1,586 yards from scrimmage, including a freshman-record 270 rushing yards vs. Tulsa. J.K. Dobbins ran for 1,403 yards – an Ohio State freshman record – as a first-year Buckeye in 2017 while Maurice Clarett helped lead the Buckeyes to a national championship as a true freshman as Ohio State’s top running back in 2002.
The Buckeyes’ newest freshman running backs are drawing inspiration from the success of their predecessors.
“In our running back room, we have a whole wall of Freshman All-American running backs, and the standard is, when you come here, like, you're going to be the best of the best, and I came here to be that,” Peoples said. “So I'm working every day, and we're going to see at the end of the season.”
They’re also gaining confidence because of the belief that Henderson and Judkins – who had his own spectacular freshman season by running for 1,565 yards and 16 touchdowns at Ole Miss in 2022 – have shown in them.
“Quinshon and Trey, they’ve got confidence in me and when they've got confidence in me, I have all the confidence in the world,” Williams-Dixon said.
Henderson believes the future is very bright for both Peoples and Williams-Dixon at Ohio State.
“They're going to be really, really great backs here,” Henderson said Wednesday. “And they're working. Each day, they're competing and trying to get better.”
Judkins has also been impressed by the two freshman running backs and how they’ve worked to improve in their first year.
“Just seeing them from when they first came and to the point where they’re at now, just seeing them grow as players overall in their game, just having that mindset to come every day and just work and being able to listen to what coach says and go out there and put it on the field, that's really the biggest thing,” Judkins said.
Peoples and Williams-Dixon have each repeatedly shown their ability to run the ball and catch passes out of the backfield during practices that have been open to the media as well as the spring game, in which Williams-Dixon ran for a game-high 75 yards – accentuated by a 22-yard touchdown run – on 11 carries and caught one pass for seven yards while Peoples rushed for 36 yards on 10 carries and added three catches for 23 yards.
"I would have thrown it, but we'll take it." @ryandaytime will settle for the TD run pic.twitter.com/eHQwbAJgUI
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) April 13, 2024
Wheels down the middle! @SamuelDixon24 x @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/15GBRJjMpw
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) April 13, 2024
The biggest question surrounding both backs, as it is often is for freshmen at the position, is whether they can be consistently relied upon in pass protection. But Locklyn says they’ve done well in that regard so far in camp.
“Both are good runners. The hardest thing for young running backs, because they don't learn it in high school, is pass pro. But they both got the right mindset. They're both very coachable,” Locklyn said. “They're doing a good job. And if they're not doing a good job, guess who's fault that is? This guy (Locklyn said pointing to himself).”
“They're going to be really, really great backs here.”– TreVeyon Henderson on James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon
Both Peoples and Williams-Dixon say they’ve had the mindset that they would play at least some role right away since they arrived at Ohio State, so neither is intimidated by the possibility of being the third man on the running back depth chart as a freshman. How much playing time that will actually lead to for each of them this season could depend on circumstances, but they’re looking to prove they can be counted on as needed.
“(A big role this season) definitely could come. But I just say keeping my head down, working every day and all that's going to sort itself out,” Peoples said. “I just gotta focus on doing my job, coming to practice every day, putting my best foot forward and doing my assignment. I'm not too worried about kind of like where I'll fall really right now, but just being the best player that I can be right now and seeing where it goes from there.”
