As preseason camp opens this week, one of the boldest bets on the Ohio State offense is also one of the simplest: Bo Jackson is set up to explode.
The Buckeyes have two reasons to feel good about their ground game heading into 2026. First, they should be better at running the football.
That has to happen, and Arthur Smith’s track record with running backs as an offensive coordinator points in that direction. Second, Jackson looks ready for a true breakout.
That’s why the prediction here is straightforward: Jackson will lead the Big Ten in rushing yards.
Last season, Jackson finished fifth in the conference with 1,090 rushing yards. Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson led the Big Ten with 1,451, but he’s now in the NFL. The second- and fourth-leading rushers from last year are also gone to the NFL, and the two backs directly behind Jackson, Kaelon Black and King Miller, have moved on as well.
Jackson’s own rise came fast. He wasn’t even Ohio State’s starting running back when the season began, and he didn’t play against Texas. After that, though, he put together six straight games with 100-plus rushing yards.
That kind of finish matters, but the bigger picture matters more. Ohio State’s offense last year ran through the passing game, with Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate forming what was the best wide receiver duo in college football. This year, the Buckeyes don’t have a clear-cut WR2 entering the season, and that should push more of the offense toward the run while the new receivers settle in.
Jackson should be at the center of that shift. He had only one game last season with 20 or more carries, but that number should climb now that he enters the year as the Buckeyes’ RB1 and will be on the field in Week 1.
And then there’s the scheme fit. Arthur Smith’s offenses have always been built around the run, both in Tennessee and Atlanta during his NFL offensive coordinator and head coaching stops.
Put it all together, and the path is there for Jackson to sit atop the Big Ten rushing leaderboard in 2026. He was already less than 400 yards off the top last season, and he did that after missing the opener.
In Other News...
ESPN Is Pushing The SEC Again And Ohio State Can Answer
ESPNs preseason Football Power Index has Ohio State sitting at No. 1 entering the season, a familiar spot for a program coming off a national championship and trying to prove the Big Ten belongs in the same conversation as the SEC. The broader debate is about how much weight ESPN gives conference reputation in its numbers, especially when the discussion turns to strength of schedule and which league is really carrying the most week-to-week difficulty.
Ohio States own schedule gets respect from the metric, landing eighth in the country, but the larger picture still leans heavily toward the SEC in ESPNs view. That is where the Buckeyes can make their case on the field, with the national title backdrop and the Big Tens recent run of championships giving the conference plenty to point to if it wants to push back on the idea that the SEC owns the top tier of college football. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Suddenly Has Real Momentum With Two Key 2028 Linemen
Ohio States defensive-line recruiting has already been a strength in the 2027 cycle, and the Buckeyes are wasting no time trying to keep that momentum rolling into 2028. A pair of young linemen has started to shape the early picture: edge rusher George Parkinson IV has moved his process down to a short list, and in-state tackle Thomas Minor remains squarely on the board as one of the more important names for the Buckeyes to track.
For Ohio State, the appeal is obvious. Parkinson brings the kind of pass-rush profile the staff covets, while Minor offers a homegrown target from a program that has already sent talent to Columbus before. The buzz around both recruits is still early and speculative, but the fact that Ohio State is showing up this prominently this soon suggests the Buckeyes may already be building a real foothold in a class that is still very much taking shape. [Read more 🡒]