Ohio State football: Running backs rotation unsettled from start of season
By Tim May
The Columbus Dispatch Friday December 16, 2011
It?s sort of humorous to hear that a few days ago before blue-chip running back prospect Bri?onte Dunn fully pledged finally to sign with Ohio State in 2012, he wanted to know how incoming head coach Urban Meyer planned to use him in his spread attack.
Not that a hot-shot high school player looking after his own interests is comedic. They would all be wise to try to go some place where their talents will, at the least, be appreciated and, at the most, be exploited.
The humor comes in knowing that?s what Daniel ?Boom? Herron, Jordan Hall, Jaamal Berry, Carlos Hyde and Rod Smith were all seeking as they joined the Buckeyes in succession through the past few years. And with quarterback Terrelle Pryor suddenly chased out of OSU this year by an ongoing NCAA investigation, the possibility of a grand slam rotation at tailback ? even if Herron had to serve a suspension the first half of the season ? piqued interest among Buckeye boosters.
Many wondered aloud, in fact whether Herron, despite being a 1,000-yard rusher the year before, would be able to fight his way back into the lineup after those other four fellows had a chance to take their swings the first six games.
Turns out, it was a stacked deck. As soon as Herron was eligible for game seven, he was named the starter by interim coach Luke Fickell and running backs coach Dick Tressel. Herron responded, too, with three straight 100-yard games to reassert as the ace high of the running back flush.
?Being a veteran, I kind of expected it to happen,? Herron said the other day during a break in pre-Gator Bowl practice. By that, he meant ?That I would be out there to be a leader, and go out there and have to make some plays, kind of be that guy on the offensive side of the ball.?
But really, the only one of the others who had a legitimate beef by that point was Hyde. Calamity had struck the other three in one form or another.
For example, Hyde started the first three games after Hall was suspended for the first two due to an NCAA rules violation. At that point, Berry was dealing with a nagging hamstring pull.
Smith was Hyde?s primary backup those first two games, but two lost fumbles caused him to lose favor with the coaching staff, which became stark reality when Hall returned for game three. Smith, who had 25 carries combined in the first two games, had four the rest of the season, all in the Colorado game. By midseason he had been shuffled to the defensive side to help perhaps at linebacker.
Berry never gained a clear shot at tailback, then was suspended the last four games of the season after he was charged with assault in an off-campus incident. His case is pending, and so is his college football career.
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