Ryan Day confirms Chip Trayanum's role is at running back

Ohio State‘s Chip Trayanum played both running back and linebacker last season in his first year with the Buckeyes. But his performance out of the backfield in the Buckeyes’ spring game on Saturday likely solidified his position as a running back heading to the season, which head coach Ryan Day discussed following their spring game.

“We’ve talked to him about what we see his role being and it’s at running back this year,” Day said. “You saw him put on some weight and be able to carry it. You can see he’s got some high-end speed, some top-end speed, he comes out the back end. He had that long run, but I still think he was the second leading ball carrier on the day.”

Day is referring to Ohio State legend Archie Griffin, who was given an honorary carry that he took 25 yards to the house for a touchdown in the third quarter of the Buckeyes’ spring game.

“I think the first on was Archie Griffin, that was fun watching him there. I think next year’s the 50th anniversary of his first Heisman, so we wanted to make sure he came back for that one. So offense needed a little help at that point too around the 30-yard line, so we felt like we called into the bullpen and pulled in 45 so that was good,” Day said.

Trayanum led all rushers in the spring game, including Griffin, with 110 yards on the ground including an explosive 65-yard touchdown run down. He transferred to Ohio State in 2022 after spending two seasons at Arizona State, where he rushed for 692 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Sun Devils.

Trayanum was converted to the linebacker position upon his arrival, recording 13 tackles last season. He was also used as a kick returner, returning three kickoffs for a total of 29 yards in 2022 as well. But following so injuries to the position, returned to the running back room, rushing for 92 yards on 15 carries and even catching a 14-yard pass out of the backfield.

“But no Chip has done a nice job,” Day said. “He’s changed his body a little bit, gotten stronger, he’s a load in there. You can see him it it, so he has big play ability. There were things that he did in the games that he played in last year that we liked so we’re going to keep building on that.”

The Buckeyes bring back their top three leading rushers last season in Miyan Williams, TreVeyon Henderson, and Dallan Hayden who each received over 100 carries last season. And solidifying Trayanum as a running back will only make Ohio State’s backfield even stronger than it already was.