COLUMBUS, Ohio — No one should be more excited by Ohio State football’s pivot to Chip Kelly as its next offensive coordinator than TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins and Dallan Hayden.
Losing Bill O’Brien to Boston College after three weeks turned out to be merely a momentary inconvenience. Kelly’s background may set him up as an even better fit for the roster the Buckeyes will take into the fall.
Specifically, he may be even better suited than Day to maximize what those three running backs can accomplish together.
Kelly lit the college football world on fire 15 years ago with Oregon’s up-tempo zone-read rushing attack. Five of the top six single-season rushing performances in that program’s history came during Kelly’s six-year tenure as offensive coordinator or head coach.
His first two Oregon teams as head coach (2009-10) ranked fourth nationally in yards per carry. His last two, before jumping to the NFL in 2013, led the nation. Those four teams averaged 6.0 yards over nearly 2,500 carries.
No Buckeyes team has averaged 6 yards per carry since 2013 (though Trey Sermon nearly pulled them there in 2020).
Day hired Kelly (and O’Brien) to coordinate Ohio State’s offense — his offense, built over the course of the past seven years through Heisman finalist quarterbacks and elite receivers and an always dangerous yet sometimes frustrating running game. In Kelly’s case, though, their respective offenses grew from the same origin — the New Hampshire offense of the late 1990s. Kelly coordinated it, while Day quarterbacked it, and many of those principles survived.
Kelly can enhance what already projected as a potent 2024 rushing attack.
Those Oregon teams came with a lot of flash, with their rolodex of neon uniform combinations and breakneck tempo out of spread formations. So it might be easy to misremember those as finesse teams. Those offenses thrived, though, on inside zone runs and attacking downhill.
Henderson remains an underrated weapon between the tackles. Judkins became a nationally renowned one.
Day and Kelly’s common backgrounds and philosophies helps explain why Day became so frustrated with short-yardage shortcomings. At times, his play-calling seemed to suffer from a stubbornness as a result. Kelly could bring a refreshing new voice to a years-long problem — as well as a familiarity with offensive line coach Justin Frye, who he hired at UCLA.
Ohio State already needed some creative new ideas for how to simultaneously utilize both Henderson and Judkins to maximize their production. Kelly’s been there, done that.
In his second year as Oregon’s offensive coordinator, Jeremiah Johnson and Legarrette Blount both topped 1,000 yards and averaged more than 7 per carry. Even in years in which a lead back emerged, Kelly spread the wealth behind them. LaMichael James rushed for 1,805 yards in 2011, but Kenjon Barner still piled up 939.
Kelly’s final Eagles team, in 2015, planned to pair DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews as a dangerous backfield combination. Injuries thwarted that plan, though, and ultimately helped cost Kelly — and Day — their jobs.
Playing both Henderson and Judkins together will be difficult no matter who calls the plays. Ohio State tried it more last season than it had previously under Day. Chip Trayanum was essentially a fullback in those scenarios, though more in assignment than skill set. Regardless, It gave defenses something extra to recognize and account for in the game plan.
Kelly has occasionally played two-back sets, and with both Henderson and Judkins on the roster, it might be downright criminal not to employ it occasionally.
Will Howard said he came to Ohio State to show what he can do as a passer. There should be plenty of opportunity for that while also taking advantage of his size and speed with those read options. Dorian Thompson-Robinson rushed for more than 1,500 yards in his final three seasons at UCLA, though as more of a true dual-threat quarterback.
Howard spoke recently like he hoped to develop more of a mobile passer reputation. That is not merely a semantic defense, but it also does not preclude Howard from being a true ground threat in the offense.
Kelly’s own offense adapted over time to phase out some of the zone read concepts and mix in more misdirection. Day has used the latter with great success in the past. Again, between Howard, the top two running backs and a handful of talented receivers, defenses will already be vulnerable to the leverage OSU can create.
Day did not need Kelly to lead all Power 5 programs in total rushing yards in 2019. That team featured a mobile quarterback in Justin Fields, a workhorse back in J.K. Dobbins and an offensive line heavy on eventual NFL talents.
That last factor remains the great unknown in the 2024 run game, though the group did improve over the course of last season.
This already seemed destined to become the most ground-oriented OSU offense since Day’s head coaching debut in 2019. Bringing Kelly on as the head coach of the offense all but clinched it.
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