Insider provides concerning update on Ohio State football RB Bo Jackson with the transfer portal open for another week
Bo Jackson was Ohio State’s leading rusher as a freshman — and now he wants an up in NIL.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have had an interesting few days since the transfer portal opened last Friday.
Ohio State has lost north of 20 scholarship players to the transfer portal. The Buckeyes have brought in four commitments so far from the transfer portal with more visits currently happening. The transfer portal is open until Jan. 16 — and the Buckeyes could still lose more players.
RB Bo Jackson could be one to watch for the Buckeyes with the transfer portal open
Rumors hit message boards and social media on Wednesday around noise that Ohio State’s leading rusher was asking for a big pay bump. Bo Jackson had 1,090 rushing yards and six touchdowns as a true freshman in 2025 for the Buckeyes. Jackson appeared in 13 games and was the lead back for Ohio State from Week 2 on.
According to Jeremy Birmingham of WBNS-10TV, Jackson’s camp is asking for a large bump in pay.
“From what I understand, the request from [Bo Jackson’s camp] is more than what TreVeyon [Henderson]’s salary was for the New England Patriots this year,” Birmingham said on The Beat with Austin & Birm on Thursday. “More than both TreVeyon and Quinshon [Judkins] made in their final year at Ohio State, [and] maybe combined.”
Judkins made around $1 million at Ohio State and TreVeyon Henderson’s base salary with the Patriots this season is $840,000. Jackson is asking for star player money and it’s as simple as that. While he deserves to make more than what he made in 2025 as a freshman next season, it shouldn’t touch what two NFL-ready running backs made on Ohio State’s national championship.
As a freshman, Jackson stepped up and became the guy over West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson and sophomore James Peoples. Peoples is at Penn State now via the portal and Isaiah West is the other returning back with experience at Ohio State. Anthony Rogers and incoming freshman Favour Akih will also be on the roster.
Ohio State is expected to add running back depth during this transfer portal period. If Jackson ends up hitting the portal, they’ll have to go from adding depth to finding a new bell cow.
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