'This RB room is looking stacked': Why Ohio State has three running backs in 2024 class
Ohio State football seems to be making up ground in its running back room in the 2024 class.
After not landing a running back in the 2023 class, running backs coach and run game coordinator Tony Alford and the Buckeyes have landed three commitments in 2024: four-star James Peoples, three-star Sam Williams-Dixon and four-star Jordan Lyle, who announced his commitment to Ohio State Saturday.
Shortly after Lyle's commitment Saturday, Peoples and Williams-Dixon couldn't wait to share their excitement for another member of their future running back room.
"This RB room is looking stacked," Peoples told Williams-Dixon on an Instagram Live minutes after Lyle committed. The pair went back and forth calling Lyle's film "crazy" and saying Ohio State's running back room was "way better than Michigan."
But Ohio State's running back room could look a lot different once Peoples, Williams-Dixon and Lyle arrive in 2024.
Ohio State junior TreVeyon Henderson will be draft-eligible after the 2023 season and is in a room with fourth-year junior running backs Miyan Williams and Chip Trayanum. Evan Pryor is heading into his third season in the program as a redshirt sophomore, while Dallan Hayden is heading into his second season of eligibility.
Ohio State had the intention of adding a running back to the 2023 class, initially having a commitment from Florida four-star running back Mark Fletcher. But Fletcher, the No. 7 running back in the class, flipped and signed with Miami in the 2023 class, leaving the Buckeyes without a running back in the class for the first time since 2014, and for the first time in Alford's tenure.
With Henderson, Williams, Trayanum and Pryor all draft-eligible after the 2023 season, Alford and Ohio State are building back up its running back class on the recruiting trail.
Ohio State started with Peoples on April 2, the No. 5 running back in the class according to 247Sports' composite rankings, who recorded 1,904 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns in 2022.
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“(Alford) said he liked how I put everything together,” Peoples previously told The Dispatch. “I’m fast, strong, can block, can catch, great vision, great burst, break tackles. He said, ‘You are a complete package. … For us at Ohio State, it’s what we’re looking for, someone who can do it all.’ ”
Williams-Dixon joined the class on April 15 after the Buckeyes' spring game as a versatility option that could be everything from a power back finding space inside the gaps of the offensive line to a receiving option that shows off his acceleration in the defensive backfield standing at 5-foot-11, 203 pounds.
“I can outrun people, run people over and just have that chip on my shoulder that I’m not doing this for myself,” Williams-Dixon said. “I’m also doing it for the men up front that block for me and for my team.”
Lyle, the 6-foot, 180-pound running back, was next for the Buckeyes, joining Ohio State as the No. 27 running back out of Fort Lauderdale where he 1,015 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns last season at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, per 247Sports.
In the 2024 class, Ohio State is trying to secure its future after Henderson and Williams, bringing in multiple bodies for Alford to try to develop into options to carry that same torch moving forward.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why James Peoples, Sam Williams-Dixon, Jordan Lyle are in OSU 2024 class
