'I look at it as we have two starters': OSU football's Tony Alford on backfield rotation
Miyan Williams climbed Ohio State’s record books in Saturday’s 49-10 win over Rutgers.
His five rushing touchdowns tied Pete Johnson and Keith Byars for the most ever in a game for the Buckeyes.
Might he also move up on the depth chart? The career performance invites the question about the backfield rotation.
Through the first four weeks, TreVeyon Henderson went out at running back for the first series until he was sidelined last week with an apparent foot injury and replaced by Williams. But running backs coach Tony Alford resisted designating either of them as the starter — even with Henderson expected to return this week at Michigan State.
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“I look at it as we have two starters,” Alford said. “I have the whole time.”
While Henderson carried the starter status for the first month as he did as a freshman for most of last fall, he and Williams have seen about an equal share of the carries in mirroring roles.
Williams has averaged 12.8 rush attempts per game, a mark that rose after he saw a career-high 21 against the Scarlet Knights, while Henderson has gotten 12.5.
Both have gashed their share of defenses, with Williams rushing for 497 yards and eight touchdowns and Henderson following with 318 yards and three touchdowns.
“We have two guys that are capable of being starters,” Alford said. “We have two guys that are capable of playing championship-level football. And we’re going to use them according to how we need to use them to help win games.”
Alford handles questions about the rotation each season. The subject often comes up during preseason training camp. Reporters ask if he will use a running-back-by-committee approach or favor a bell cow back.
“I say the same thing every year,” Alford said. “I don’t care. I want to win games. We’re here to win games. We’re not here to stack up stats. If stats come with it, then fantastic. But we’re here to win games and however we have to do that, that’s how we do it.”
The approach has often led the Buckeyes to use multiple backs with varying skill sets. Williams adds a hard-nosed running style to a rushing tandem with Henderson. It was among the traits the staff noticed about Williams when he was in high school at Cincinnati Winton Woods and stood out among the top running backs in the state.
“He's tough,” Alford said. “He is rugged, and he's a violent player. We saw that in high school. We saw that his true freshman year. And he’s just continuing to be the guy we think he could be.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Tony Alford on Ohio State football running back rotation
