When players are asked at the NFL Scouting Combine to name an up-and-coming player to watch on their former college team, many of them choose a player – or multiple players – from their respective position group. When Lathan Ransom was asked that question last week, however, the former Buckeye safety started with a player who lined up on the opposite side of the ball from him in Ohio State practices last season.
“I think James Peoples is a dog,” Ransom said. “That young running back coming up, (he’s going to) make a lot of plays.”
Asked to elaborate on why he’s so high on Peoples’ future, Ransom praised the sophomore running back’s work ethic and how difficult it is to tackle him in space.
“Just a hard worker, man, a dude that runs hard every time he gets a chance,” Ransom said. “And he's a big running back, and tough to get down in that open field, so I think he's going to make a lot of plays.”
Peoples enters his second year at Ohio State with a chance to emerge as the Buckeyes’ top running back in 2025. While Ohio State also brought in West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson, the ceiling of Ohio State’s 2025 rushing attack could be determined by the growth of Peoples, who’s viewed as a potential second-year breakout star after serving as OSU’s No. 3 running back behind TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins last season.
As Henderson and Judkins split carries atop the depth chart all year long, Peoples didn’t get many opportunities to showcase his skill as a freshman. He ran the ball just 49 times for 197 yards and two touchdowns, with all of his playing time coming with the backups in games that Ohio State already had a comfortable lead in. But Judkins and Henderson, who are both now in line to be early-round NFL draft picks, saw the potential of Peoples in practice.
“James is a great young man,” Judkins said. “Learned a lot from me and Trey with our leadership, taught him a lot of things. He got to see us and how we approach different things. So I think him just coming out in his second year, he'll grow a lot. A very talented player.
“He's fast, a bigger back, I would say just a talented guy,” Judkins said when asked to describe Peoples’ game. “You'll see for sure.”
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Peoples looks to follow in the footsteps of J.K. Dobbins by becoming a star Ohio State running back from the Lone Star State. And Henderson says that’s just the beginning of the comparisons between Peoples and Dobbins, who became Ohio State’s first-ever 2,000-yard rusher in a single season in 2019.
“He has a build like J.K. Dobbins, and I kind of see similarities in their game as well,” said Henderson. “J.K. Dobbins, he was a great running back; I feel like he's not talked about a lot, but his career here, you watch his highlights, is great. I remember before I committed (to Ohio State), I remember watching J.K. Dobbins highlights, like every one of his years here, like four or five times. And so, man, he was such a great back, and I feel like when I see J.K. Dobbins, when I see James Peoples, I see similarities to both of their games. I feel like they play the same.”
If Peoples – who was listed last year at 5-foot-10 and 203 pounds but certainly could be closer to 215 pounds, Dobbins’ listed weight, after a second offseason of physical development at Ohio State – can come even close to becoming what Dobbins was for the Buckeyes over the next two to three years, Ohio State’s future at running back will be bright.
Donaldson is the most proven commodity in Ohio State’s running back room entering spring practice, having rushed for 2,058 yards and 30 touchdowns over the last three seasons at West Virginia, but Ohio State will look to have at least two running backs split the load again as it strives to make another deep College Football Playoff run. Knowing how well that worked for him and Judkins and the Buckeyes last year, Henderson is excited to see how the running back rotation unfolds in Carlos Locklyn’s second year as OSU’s running backs coach.
“Just that one-two punch with them both as well, they're going to be really good backs,” Henderson said. “And so, James Peoples, man, he's smart. The way that he goes about his business, he's mature; he's growing, just as a person and as a player. And so, yeah, definitely, Ohio State, that running back room is in great hands.”
