J.K. Dobbins predicted his big junior season 10 months ago.
Ohio State had just capped Urban Meyer's final season in Columbus with a 28-23 win over Washington in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes were celebrating, but Dobbins was already looking forward to the 2019 season.
“We’re going to win the national championship, and I think I’m going to have a pretty good year," Dobbins said in January. "That’s all I can tell you."
The latter half of that statement is playing out accordingly.
Dobbins' dominant start to the year is a storyline because of his sophomore slump. He had a fine season by most standards, running for 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns while sharing the load with Mike Weber. But it was a big step back in production from his freshman season, in which he ran for over 1,400 yards. His yards per carry also dipped from 7.2 to 4.6.
But Dobbins had a good feeling about his junior season. The Buckeyes had to replace four starters along its offensive line, which isn't ideal for a running back trying to bounce back from a subpar season. He had two things going for him, though — the shared workload was set to fade with Weber's departure, and the Buckeyes were adding a running threat at quarterback with the addition of Justin Fields.
Both were important elements for Dobbins. He proved in his first two seasons that when he was featured in a primary role next to a dual-threat in the backfield, he could make big things happen.
That's playing out this fall. Through five games this year, Dobbins ranks second nationally with 652 rushing yards to complement six total touchdowns. They're impressive numbers considering he carried the ball just eight times in Ohio State's 71-point demolition of Miami (Ohio).
This is the expectation Dobbins had for himself, but it was also a challenge made by his new head coach during the offseason.
"[Dobbins] is one of the guys that has to play good... especially in the first six games of the year," Ryan Day said before the start of fall camp. "He’s got to have a good year for us."
He's well on his way. If Dobbins maintains his current clip, a 2,000-yard rushing season is feasible.
The play of the junior running back has Ohio State in the thick of the College Football Playoff race.
There are other factors, of course.
It was hard to imagine Fields' picking up the Buckeyes offense this quickly and efficiently. The Georgia transfer didn't arrive on campus until a few days after Ohio State's Rose Bowl win over the Huskies, but he's looking like a quarterback who's been in Day's system for years. The sophomore has piled up 23 total touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception as a member of the Buckeyes.
No one was certain Ohio State's defensive overhaul would flip this dramatically, either. The Buckeyes went from one of the most vulnerable defenses to one of the country's most dominant in the span of nine months thanks to the coaching of new defensive coordinators Greg Mattison and Jeff Hafley.
Everything is coming together perfectly for Day in his first season as Ohio State's head coach, but Dobbins' reemergence has been an integral part of the Buckeyes' dominant start to the year.
