Buckeye fans. Hello. How are ya? Let’s talk pounding the rock up the middle. Let’s talk three yards and a cloud of dust. Let’s talk running backs. And if we are talking RBs, we might as well talk about the school that produces the best. The Buckeyes of Ohio State. I will be ranking all relevant Ohio State Buckeye running backs since 2000. The order will be a top 5 but worst to first so it forces you to read the whole thing or at least scroll to the bottom of the page to get to the crop top, I mean #1 spot. Ok, lets begin.

Honorable Mention:

I had to at least shout out a few guys because there were so many to choose from.

Trey Sermon

TreVeyon Henderson

Jordan Hall

Dan Herron

#5: Mike Weber

I always thought Mike Weber was criminally underrated. I kind of forced him on this list just so I could let it be know that he deserved better. I figured he would be one of those guys that wasn’t a huge name in college and then blew up in the NFL. Now he is bouncing around all the wanna be leagues. I remember when Weber lost his starting job the very first game of the 2017 season to JK Dobbins after Weber had just won freshman of the year. Cutthroat but made sense I guess.

#4: Braxton Miller

Shut up, I don’t care. I know he was a QB and converted to WR but the stats and tape don’t lie. The man played running back from the QB and it was great. He was Lamar before Lamar was a thing. One of the most talented players in Ohio State history and is still considered to be a “what if” story. 

#3: Carlos Hyde

A better version of Beanie Wells? They were pretty similar and both phenomenal. Braxton and Hyde in the same backfield was thunder and lightning.  Old school 3 yard and a cloud of dust kind of runner.

#2: JK Dobbins

Again, I think a very underrated running back in Ohio State History.  I think there is an opposite recency bias for Ohio State running backs. Fans love the older backs and forget how JK Dobbins has Big Ten records. JK has the most rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and rushing yards per attempt in a single season in the Big Ten. Pretty pretty good.

#1: Ezekiel Elliot 

Had to. No way I couldn’t give #1 to my favorite Ohio State player who gave me my favorite Ohio State moment. 85 yards through the heart of the south will most likely forever be my favorite play. Zekes championship run in 2015 was unreal. I think it is fair to put Zeke at 1 since he was the best player on the best college football team of all time.

-Woody