Ohio State safety Caleb Downs is prepared for offensive touches: 'I definitely believe that's on the table'
Back in June, Ryan Day mentioned the possibility of using Ohio State safety Caleb Downs to bolster the team’s running back depth this season.
That wasn’t just an early-summer throwaway comment from the sixth-year Buckeyes head coach.
“I definitely take that serious,” Downs said with a laugh, when the Alabama transfer was asked Tuesday about Day’s remarks from two months ago.
“I feel like I’m an elite player with a ball in my hands. So, I mean, I would never not believe in myself to do something. I definitely believe that’s on the table, but I’m just taking it day-by-day.”
Downs said his last carry came “at the end of the summer.” The Buckeyes just wrapped training camp, and their season opener against Akron is 10 days away.
Downs was a second-team AP All-American safety last season at Alabama. He’s going to start at free safety for Ohio State in 2024, and he could already be the best player on a Buckeyes defense that returned most of its starters from last year’s breakout campaign under coordinator Jim Knowles.
But playing a bit of running back was part of Downs’ original recruitment to Ohio State when the Hoschton, Georgia, native was a unanimous five-star recruit and the On3 Industry’s No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class.
It was even a bigger part of the conversation the second time around when Downs entered the transfer portal this offseason, according to Day.
“That’s something that he wanted to do,” Day said in June. “So we’ve been having him in some of the meetings and some of the individual drills as a possibility there, if needed so down the road, to continue to build depth at that position.”
Ohio State has only four scholarship running backs on the roster, after all. The room is headlined by stars TreVeyon Henderson, a returning senior, and Quinshon Judkins, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher from Ole Miss, but next up is a pair of true freshmen, James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon.
Buckeyes running backs have been bit by the injury bug the last two seasons. Downs could provide depth at the position — or, more likely, he could spice up the offense a few times a game, or maybe just a few times over the course of the season.
Downs was asked Tuesday what he’d like his involvement on offense to look like this year.
“I wouldn’t say like every play or anything,” he said. “I would say if I played on offense, it would be like maybe max 10 times a game.”
Downs mentioned that he’s friends with Colorado two-way standout Travis Hunter, who starred at both wide receiver and cornerback last season for the Buffaloes. Downs explained that he has an idea of what playing on defense and offense would look like, simply because he did it at Mill Creek High School, where he scored in five different ways as a junior: four rushing touchdowns, two receiving touchdowns, two interception return touchdowns, one kickoff return touchdown and one touchdown pass.
“I know it would be accelerated just because it’s college and everything and everybody’s better,” Downs conceded. “But I mean, I have an idea of it just because of high school. I played a lot of plays every [game], so I know what it would take and everything like that.
“But Travis is doing that at an elite level, and I don’t think anybody’s really done that in a while like him. So I commend him for that. I know how hard it is for him, and he’s in elite shape to do it.”
Downs could also wind up with the ball in his hands on special teams. He was part of an extensive group of receivers catching punts during training camp.
“I’ve caught a lot of punts this camp. They gave me the opportunity to do that,” Downs said. “I’ll be happy to. If they give it to somebody else, then I wish them the best, and I’ll be behind them.”
Whether he’s playing safety or doing anything else on the football field, Downs has the mindset of an offensive player when he gets his hands on the rock.
“Score,” he said seriously without hesitation — or even a chuckle.