Ryan Day explains plan to use Caleb Downs, potential to play running back

Arguably the biggest non-quarterback move of the transfer portal this offseason was Freshman All-American safety Caleb Downs departing from Alabama to Ohio State following the retirement of Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban. Bolstering up the Buckeyes’ defense in an amazing way after ranking second in the country in yards allowed per game last year.

There’s no question that there was a ton of excitement surrounding Downs’ arrival to Columbus, but one of the biggest storylines of the offseason surrounding him was head coach Ryan Day mentioning that he could potentially play some offense for Ohio State this season. A talented, do-it-all all athlete whose new head coach sounded open to unleashing on both sides of the ball.

At Big Ten Media Days, Day was asked about his previous comments surrounding Downs playing some running back and if it was more so about his abilities or the team’s potential deficiencies on offense.

“At the time, that was more about Caleb,” Day said. “We felt like in recruiting that I watched him play against Buford in a high school game, one of the best games I’ve ever seen. He was on both sides of the ball, he was returning kicks, he was running the ball, and I was like this guy can play running back at Ohio State. Like now.”

In his senior high school season, along with being a defensive standout, Downs had 389 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on 57 carries along with 36 receptions for 422 receiving yards and three scores through the air. Showing off his abilities with the ball in his hands at Alabama where he returned four punts for 87 yards and a touchdown against Chattanooga.

“He has the ability, now do we want to put that on display right away?” Day asked. “I think he has interest in doing it, I think he’d like to do some returning. I think we want to get him started with safety and go from there.”

Many are tabbing TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins as the best running back duo in the country this season. But an injury to junior running back TC Caffey that will sideline him for the entire 2024 season definitely puts Downs in a standby position as an athlete that can definitely help the Buckeyes in more than one way.

“Since we lost TC for the year, it’s something that we have to make sure that we’re on top of and build a contingency plan. I don’t think we have to sound the alarm just yet, but it’s good to have things down in a row that we can go to if we need to,” Day concluded.