With the loss of Evan Pryor to a knee injury, the Buckeyes now have a more precarious position in their running back room than they had 24 hours ago. The room now only has three scholarship running backs: TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, and Dallan Hayden.
While the situation is not the end of the world by any stretch, it is still absolutely paramount that they keep these three healthy until the start of the regular season. Hayden, a true freshman, will now be moving into the second group rotation and will have to develop at a more accelerated rate. Fortunately, it seems like Hayden has been having a good camp and that culminated in a good scrimmage performance last Saturday.
The big hope is that Hayden can use that as a spring board to build consistency and ultimately work his way into a running back rotation.
At the risk of speculating, if a catastrophe were to unfold *knock on wood*, I would have to imagine someone like Chip Trayanum, who has collegiate experience at running back, would get the first crack at it.
As far as Henderson and Williams go? It will be business as usual for these two as they still figure to be one of the top, if not the top, one-two punch in America. But, keeping them healthy from now until Labor Day has to be a priority for the staff.
The loss of Pryor will be felt in the unit and our good thoughts go out to Evan as we wish him a smooth recovery and hope to see him back and 100% for the 2023 season.
