Bijan Robinson reveals how he was almost Ohio State’s running back, and why he backed out: Buckeye Breakfast

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There was a time when Ohio State football thought the future of its running back room would be solved in the form of a five-star in the 2020 recruiting class.

It would’ve been a smooth handoff with J.K. Dobbins set to walk out the door after the 2020 season to replace him with another player from the Southwest capable of making a Day 1 impact. Bijan Robinson seemed to agree with that sentiment as the nation’s No. 15 player and top running back.

“I silently committed to Ohio State for a week,” Robinson said in an interview on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast. “It was moreso people and players in my ear telling me, ‘You’ve gotta go here. We’re gonna build a dynasty here. You’re gonna be amazing.’ Which could’ve been true.”

It hasn’t really been that much of a secret that OSU thought it had Robinson in 2020. Had it come to fruition, maybe OSU wouldn’t have needed to get Trey Sermon from the transfer portal. Those 703 yards and four touchdowns Robinson ran for as a Longhorn would’ve been more than enough for Year 1 in Columbus.

But unfortunately for then-running back coach Tony Alford, his primary 2020 target had a change of heart.

“That was the hardest conversation of my life,” Robinson said. “It was tough. I called the coaches and was like, ‘This just isn’t the place for me.’ Having to say that to a grown man and him be like, ‘What are you talking about? I sent all my running backs away. You were the only one I was (talking to).’ It was just tough to have that conversation as a 17-year-old kid.”

Robinson went on to have an All-American career at Texas, turning 599 combined carries and catches into 4,215 total yards and 41 touchdowns.

Then he was the No. 8 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to the Atlanta Falcons, where he’s fresh off a quality rookie season. As a first-rounder, he ended a 10-year first-round drought for Texas (Kenny Vaccaro in 2013).

Ohio State struck gold a year later by bringing in TreVeyon Henderson as the top running back in the 2021 class and now he’s in Year 4 of being the starter. Maybe had Robinson made his silent commitment public and eventually signed, Henderson never ends up in Columbus.

But given the way Robinson’s career unfolded, one can only think what if he had never changed his mind a week after thinking Ohio State was the right place for him.