Ohio State’s national championship defense exposed a weakness in its running game. In the first half of the Cotton Bowl loss to Miami on December 31, the Buckeyes ran for -3 yards, and the running back who’d emerged as the primary catalyst for the offense for most of 2025 only touched the ball 11 times. That was Bo Jackson, and months later, Ryan Day is still talking about the gap that number exposed.
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Asked this week what’s made Jackson stand out through the first stretch of fall camp, Day gave credit where credit’s due while also sending Jackson’s way a crucial reminder.
“I think the first thing is, you know, his reads and the way he’s hitting the hole has really shown up,” Day told the media after Ohio State’s ninth practice of the preseason.
“But I think he’s doing a much better job at the second level and we’ve talked about it before, either running over him or you’re running around and making a 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.”
Jackson’s freshman numbers weren’t really a problem. He had 179 carries for 1,090 yards and six touchdowns, and was only the fifth true freshman in Ohio State history to clear 1,000 yards on the ground. What went missing was what happened after the first hit.
Against a Miami defense that sacked Julian Sayin five times and ran the trenches all night in that quarterfinal, Jackson finished with 55 yards on 11 carries, adding another data point to the question of how consistently he could turn contact into extra yardage.
Day hasn’t hidden that this offseason brought real competition with it. Jackson missed all of spring practice recovering from shoulder surgery, and Isaiah West, and Isaiah West, who emerged as a productive backup with 310 yards and two touchdowns on 59 carries, opened fall camp taking first-team reps. By the ninth practice, Day said Jackson had “certainly stood out,” as the staff continues to weigh a three-back rotation with West and Florida transfer Ja’Kobi Jackson.
None of that competition is an accident. It’s the kind of competition that could push Jackson toward the improvement Day keeps emphasizing. “We felt like there was a lot of good there last year, but there was also a lot of football we left on the field,” Day added, “and that’s a big point of emphasis that so far he’s been responding to.”
Day added a caveat too: camp reps mean nothing until they hold up in an actual game. But for a Buckeye offense that lost its physicality right when it needed it most, Jackson’s ability to finish runs could be one of the biggest developments Day is counting on.
“Now, again, it’s just practice, so it doesn’t matter until he puts it in a game,” Day said.
Now Jackson enters 2026 with considerably higher expectations. Day isn’t satisfied with the sophomore simply repeating his freshman numbers. The challenge is to sharpen his reads, hit the hole decisively, and consistently punish defenses once he reaches the second level.