3,000 Yards Rushing and Top 10 Status for J.K. Dobbins

3,000 Yards Rushing and Top 10 Status for J.K. Dobbins

Junior running back has joined elite group of Ohio State rushers; Top 5 status looming   

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State running back JK Dobbins burst onto the scene on a muggy night in Bloomington at the onset of the 2017 season and he hasn’t stopped running past defenders since. In last Saturday’s win at Nebraska, Dobbins became just the 11th Buckeye to eclipse 3,000 yards rushing. And that total is only going to grow.

The 181 yard performance against the Hoosiers back in 2017 jumpstarted a record-setting freshman season for Dobbins. He racked up a freshman record 1,403 yards and his 7.2 yards per carry was the second-highest total in school history. He was a freshman All-American and earned second-team All-Big Ten honors.

Dobbins himself termed his 2018 season as a disappointment but by any normal standards, it was anything but a disappointment. He put together a second consecutive 1,000-yard season, finishing with 1,053 yards and reaching the end zone 10 times. He was again named second team All-Big 10 and became the first Ohio State back ever to have 1,000-yard seasons as a freshman and as a sophomore.

Over those first two seasons, Dobbins made up half of a two headed rushing attack with Mike Weber Jr. Those two combined for over 4,000 yards and 32 scores. But with Weber moving on to the NFL and a new quarterback in Justin Fields, Dobbins new his role was going to increase.

The work he put in during the off-season was not lost on his teammates as they selected him a captain for the 2019 season. That alone elevated him into a select group. Last Saturday, he joined an even more exclusive group, joining names such as Archie Griffin, Keith Byars, Eddie George and Ezekiel Elliott. With 654 yards already this season, he looks poised to pull alongside Archie Griffin as the only Buckeyes with three 1,000-yard seasons.

He enters the game Saturday against Michigan State needing just 273 yards to climb into fifth place on the all-time rushing list at Ohio State. Kickoff is set for 7:44 p.m. on ABC. ESPN Radio will have the national broadcast and the game will also be carried on the Ohio State Sports Network.

Now that’s pretty rare air.

Ohio State 3,000 Yard Rushers

Rk.  Yards    Name                     Att.     Years

1. 5,589     Archie Griffin         924     1972-75
2. 3,961     Ezekiel Elliott         592     2013-15
3. 3,768     Eddie George          683     1992-95
4. 3,553     Tim Spencer           644     1979-82
5. 3,382     Chris Wells             585     2006-08
6. 3,314     Braxton Miller        599     2011-15
7. 3,263     JT Barrett               656     2014-17
8. 3,200     Keith Byars            619     1982-85
9. 3,198     Carlos Hyde            523     2010-13
10. 3,110     J.K. Dobbins          516     2017-19
11. 3,076     Pepe Pearson          659     1994-97