The Ohio State Buckeyes offense has been one of the best in college football through the first few weeks of the 2026 season. Ohio State ranks 8th in the country in yards per game at 522, and the passing game itself is among the nation’s best at 357 yards per game. 

Where the Buckeyes need to improve is on the ground, where they rank 76th in college football at 156.8 yards per game.

Bo Jackson is this team’s No. 1 running back, and Florida transfer Ja’Kobi Jackson is pushing him for the No. 2 role and even first-string reps at times. One development that has been a surprise through the early portion of the season, though, is how little Ohio State has used freshman running back Legend Bey.

Legend Bey’s limited role has been a surprise, but the reason might now be clear

Bey had significant hype coming into his freshman season, and Ohio State fought hard to land the recruit away from Tennessee in the recruiting process. Through four games, the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Texas native has just eight rushes for 37 yards and two catches for 37 yards with one touchdown reception, all of which came in the Ball State opener.

Bey had just one carry against Kent State a couple of weeks ago, and after that game it was reported he was dealing with an ankle injury. Last week heading in the Big Ten opener against Illinois, Bey did not play a single snap and was not on the injury report. It was a complete coaching decision.

Now we might know why that’s happening. Ryan Day’s comment on Tuesday points to why the freshman newcomer might not be playing all that much at this point, despite being an explosive player the Buckeyes could use.

“It’ll kind of be based on how practice goes this week, how he does,” Day said. “You know, we all know his ability level. Just going to continue to work to build trust, but we definitely would like to see him on the field.”

That comment reads like practice is where Bey has to be better and has to gain the trust of the coaching staff. There’s something going on during the week that isn’t quite there yet for the young running back, and the coaches don’t fully trust him at this point. This could be ball security issues, not hitting the right hole, or any number of things.

Bey is a player who had some struggles in the first game of the season returning kicks and bringing them out of the end zone when he was told not to. Since the opener, Ohio State hasn’t used him much at all.

The Buckeyes would clearly like to get Bey into the action because he’s a player who can do real damage in the open field. Still, he has to continue working in practice and earning the trust of this coaching staff to see the field on Saturdays. 

We’ll see just how much the Buckeyes use him in a top-15 road game on Saturday at Iowa, which could be telling of his season outlook.