As Ohio State looks to find as many ways as possible to get the ball into the hands of its top offensive playmakers, one way it could do so is by using them in the return game.
Asked Thursday who could handle return duties for the Buckeyes this season, Ryan Day listed Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate and TreVeyon Henderson as candidates to return kickoffs and Egbuka, Brandon Inniss, Jeremiah Smith and Jayden Ballard as options to return punts – all players, except Ballard, are expected to also play major roles for the Buckeyes’ offense this season.
“Emeka will still be in the mix, both as a punt returner and as a kick returner. We do have Carnell as a kick returner. TreVeyon is an option back there as well,” Day said. “As a punt returner, Brandon Inniss is an option for us. Jeremiah can do it. We do have quite a few guys. So we are going to use multiple guys early in the season and kind of see what happens. It's hard to do that live. Certainly Emeka has the most experience back there. Jayden Ballard has experience as well.”
While an argument could be made that Ohio State would be better off using offensive backups in the return game to give them opportunities to get on the field and keep the starters fresh, Day’s comment suggests the Buckeyes will take a different approach.
Their quantity of stars at both running back and wide receiver might make it easier to use their top players at those positions in the return game. With two starting-caliber running backs in Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and four wide receivers expected to play in heavy rotation in Egbuka, Tate, Smith and Inniss, Ohio State can afford to give one of them a breather after a return as long as they all remain healthy.
Egbuka was Ohio State’s primary punt returner in 2022 and for part of last season, when he split punt return duties with Ballard over the course of the year. Egbuka has returned 18 punts for 98 yards over the past two seasons. Ballard had seven punt returns for 49 yards last season, though there were several occasions on which he did not catch the ball cleanly or fielded punts closer to the end zone than he should have.
Egbuka’s punt return experience and surehandedness might make him the safest option to return punts this season, but the Buckeyes have reason to weigh whether it’s worth the risk of subjecting him to additional hits after he missed part of last season with an ankle injury. If they choose to reassign punt return duties, Inniss – who has led the punt return line along with Egbuka at most practices that have been open to the media – might be the top candidate to take over as Ohio State’s primary punt returner.
Inniss is confident he’ll make a big impact if Ohio State gives him the chance to take over that role.
“I'm definitely going to score a touchdown,” Inniss said last week when asked about returning punts. “I’m gonna get one this year.”
Egbuka previously served as Ohio State’s kickoff returner for most of the 2021 season, returning 20 kickoffs for 580 yards, but was replaced in that role by Chip Trayanum and later Xavier Johnson after the first game of the 2022 season. Henderson served as Ohio State’s kickoff returner in his first-ever game as a Buckeye in 2021 but has not returned to that role since.
Tate did not return any kicks for the Buckeyes last season but was an explosive high school kickoff returner at IMG Academy.
11 seconds in the good job son @carnelltate_ pic.twitter.com/CZyDlVErH2
— Ashley Griggs (@Ashleytgriggs) August 20, 2022
As with Egbuka, Ohio State will have to consider whether it’s smart to deploy Henderson as a kickoff returner after he missed time with injuries in each of the last two seasons, especially considering the Buckeyes’ lack of proven depth at RB behind him and Judkins.
None of Ohio State’s practices that have been open to the media this preseason have featured live kickoff returns, so it’s unclear whether the Buckeyes are looking at any other options for that role. Lorenzo Styles Jr. returned three kickoffs in his two seasons as a kick returner at Notre Dame, while walk-on transfer Shawn Lodge was a kick and punt returner at Presbyterian for the past two years. Freshman wide receiver Mylan Graham and running back Sam Williams-Dixon showed the ability to be dynamic returners in high school.
As Ohio State continues to evaluate its options at both returner spots, Day expects the Buckeyes to use multiple kick and punt returners in their early-season non-conference games so they can evaluate how players perform in live action before deciding who will handle those duties on a more consistent basis as the season progresses. He says wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, who’s responsible for Ohio State’s return game this season since the Buckeyes don’t have a full-time special teams coordinator, will lead the way in deciding who the returners should be.
“Brian's going to make some decisions on who that would be, get them in the game and kind of evaluate it over the first couple of games,” Day said. “We feel like we do, for the first time in a while, have several guys that we can go to in that area, and we'll probably use them all early on and see how it goes. But they all deserve an opportunity to have the ball in their hands.”
Ohio State will be hoping its returners can give it a bigger spark in the return game than it’s had in recent years as the Buckeyes seek to end their lengthy return touchdown drought. Ohio State hasn’t had a punt return touchdown since 2014 (Jalin Marshall vs. Indiana) and it hasn’t had a kickoff return touchdown since 2010 (Jordan Hall vs. Michigan).
The most important criteria for the returners, however, will be ball security and making smart decisions about when to return the ball and when to fair catch.
“They got to be good decision-makers,” Day said. “That's a big part of it now.”
