With "improvement week" in the books, Ohio State has moved back into a normal game week and that means Marshall is set for a beatdown in The Shoe this Saturday.
Ahead of that contest, Ryan Day met with the media yesterday to discuss his program. Among many topics was how Ohio State's rushing attack dominated Western Michigan before the bye week. Yes, you'd expect the Buckeyes to chew up yards at their leisure against a MAC opponent but considering that wasn't the case in the season opener against another MAC foe, the 273 yards on seven yards per carry against the Broncos was a welcome sight for Day.
Even better, transfer tailback Quinshon Judkins looked outstanding against WMU, as part of Ohio State's superb running back tandem alongside TreVeyon Henderson.
When asked about Judkins' big outing against Western Michigan, Day offered praise for the Ole Miss transfer.
"He's learned the offense. I think there's certain things that we do that's different from where he came from. So learning that was something he jumped into early on. He and TreVeyon have a great relationship...
But you can see what he can do with the ball in his hands, and the explosiveness, and the power he has when he runs and in protection. I thought he did a good job picking up a couple things too, so he's growing. He's building. You can see what a weapon he is for us when he's out there." – Ryan Day on Quinshon Judkins
In week one against Akron, Judkins didn't exactly look explosive as he carried the ball 13 times for 55 yards, or a modest 4.2 per try. But in week two against the Broncos, he was electric with nine carries for 108 yards (12 ypc) including a pair of touchdowns.
Through the small sample size of two games in Columbus, 32% of Judkins' carries (7 of 22) have gone for at least 10 yards and 2 of 22 have gone for at least 20 yards.
Last year at Ole Miss, Judkins wasn't nearly as explosive as his freshman season. Logging 271 carries in 2023 for the Rebels, Judkins averaged 4.3 yards per attempt, good for 20th among SEC running backs with at least 95 carries. He did rank 14th nationally with 39 carries of at least 10 yards but he wasn't in the top 100 running backs in 20+ yards carries as only five of his attempts (2%) reached the 20-yard threshold.
In fact, Judkins averaged at least six yards per carry in only one of 13 games last season and was held under five yards per carry in 10 of 13 contests.
In 2022 as a freshman at Ole Miss, it was a different story. Judkins ran for at least 10 yards on 15% of his carries, ranking 11th in the land with 42 such attempts. more notably, he also ranked No. 3 in the country with 19 runs of at least 20 yards as 7% of his attempts reaching the 20-yard mark.
Judkins' 5.7 yards per carry ranked 9th in the SEC and he averaged at least six yards per carry in five of 13 games. He was only held to under five yards per carry in four of 13 contests.
It remains to be seen how Judkins will fare behind Ohio State's offensive line when the competition increases but for now, it's easy to be excited about he combination of speed and power he's shown in the early going.
