The Ohio State Buckeyes got an early fall camp surprise when running back Bo Jackson didn’t appear to be the starting running back heading into the 2026 season, at least if open practices meant much to begin things. 

Jackson, who rushed for 1,090 yards and six touchdowns as a true freshman in 13 games last season, looked to have fallen behind sophomore Isaiah West on the depth chart potentially. 

That now appears to have been a motivation tactic from coach Ryan Day to get the best out of Jackson ahead of a grueling 2026 schedule. His latest comment is quite telling on it, too.

Bo Jackson’s freshman year left room for growth, expecting a bigger Year 2 in Columbus 

Jackson had a productive 2025 season by the numbers, but there were noticeable areas for improvement. He was often brought down at the first point of contact and struggled to hit the home run on deep runs or make defenders miss in the open field. Those are areas he has to improve if he wants to reach his ceiling as a running back at Ohio State. The good news is that he’s young enough to make those strides, and it could happen as soon as his sophomore season.

Ohio State’s scrimmage this past weekend sounds like one where Jackson played well and potentially reasserted himself as the Buckeyes’ starting running back for 2026. Day’s public comments following the scrimmage were encouraging.

“The first thing is his reads and the way he’s hitting the hole has really shown up,” Day said over the weekend. “I think he’s doing a much better job at the second level. And we’ve talked about it before, either running over them or you’re running around and making them miss, and you’re seeing that. It’s showing up on film. It did not show up on film last year, we all know it.”

It’s just practice, so it doesn’t matter until he puts it in the game, but if he continues to keep building and practicing and stacking these practices the way he’s doing it, it’s going to show up in the game. And that’s going to be a big part of who we are this year. We felt like there was a lot of good there last year, but there was also a lot of football that we left on the field, a big point of emphasis on that so far, he’s been responding.”

Ohio State needs both running backs for its 2026 schedule

The Buckeyes want to have two running backs who can do damage to opposing defenses, and they’re going to need it with how tough their schedule is, even as early as Week 2 against the Texas Longhorns. Having a fresh running back deep in the season because both backs are splitting touches is the best-case scenario for Ohio State. 

The Buckeyes saw that blueprint work to perfection two years ago with Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, and that’s the model Day’s staff is trying to replicate.

Both Jackson and West are going to be crucial for Ohio State in 2026 and for Arthur Smith’s offense, which is going to heavily utilize the run. That remains true even with Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin being the biggest names the Buckeyes have on the offensive side of the ball. Time will tell if Jackson can carry his scrimmage momentum into the regular season, but the early signs from fall camp suggest he’s trending in the right direction.