11W bringing this up again:
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN. Hop in the Delorean with me as we travel back in time to June 2019.
Five months after Ohio State defeated Washington in the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes welcomed a five-star recruit on campus for an official visit. The recruit was Bijan Robinson, the No. 1 running back and No. 15 overall prospect in the 2020 class.
Then-Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford and members of the Buckeyes’ recruiting staff took Robinson on a tour of Ohio State’s 50,000-student campus, its 78,000 square-foot Woody Hayes Athletic Center and its 103,000-seat Ohio Stadium.
By the end of his visit, Robinson wanted to be a Buckeye. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound ballcarrier committed to Alford, head coach Ryan Day and Ohio State moments before he departed for John Glenn International Airport and his hometown Tuscon, Arizona.
However, Robinson never made his commitment public.
It remained silent – for seven days.
“I silently committed to Ohio State for a week,” Robinson told Will Compton and Taylor Lewan on a recent episode of Bussin’ With the Boys. “(I committed to Ohio State) because there were people and players in my ear telling me, ‘You should go here. We’re gonna build a dynasty here. You’re gonna be amazing.’ Which, that could have been true. But I knew I could go to Texas for a 40-year decision – not just football, but I could become someone here, come back here and feel like this was the place for me. That was the main decision. But (I was committed) for a week, man, and I told the coaches that was the hardest decision I’ve ever made.
“I committed on Monday, and now it’s Saturday. I called them, and I was like, ‘This isn’t the place for me.’ Having to say that to a grown man and be like, ‘What are you talking about? I sent all my other running backs away. You were the only one I was getting.’ Man, it was crazy. … It was tough to have that conversation as a 17-year-old kid. I was with my family, and they were like, ‘It’s OK. It’s OK.’”
In August 2019, Robinson committed to Texas, where he would play for former Ohio State offensive coordinator and then Longhorns head coach Tom Herman. His running backs coach would be Stan Drayton, who coached the same position at Ohio State from 2012-14 and developed Ezekiel Elliott, one of the greatest running backs in the school’s history.
Robinson said Drayton was the main reason he ended up with the Longhorns.
“It was the position coach. You’re gonna be with him the whole time,” Robinson said. “I talked to other running backs before I got (to Texas). Like Reggie Bush, his position coach in college was his guy. He said, ‘The position coach is what’s most important. … He’s the most important person for yourself.’ After hearing that, I was like, ‘Let me build a relationship.’”
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Alford’s replacement for Robinson, Miyan Williams, also appeared in 31 games during his collegiate career. The three-star prospect from Cincinnati – who was committed to Iowa State before Ohio State flipped him – carried the ball 258 times for 1,555 yards and 20 scores across four seasons. Williams went undrafted in 2024 and has yet to receive a UDFA deal as he recovers from a knee surgery.
While I am a well-documented fan of CHOP, hearing that Alford (and Ohio State) fumbled the bag on Robinson is devastating – even more so when you remember the Buckeyes could have paired him with C.J. Stroud, Paris Johnson Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2020 class, not to mention TreVeyon Henderson in the 2021 class.
Man, that’s brutal.
Just brutal.