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Arthur Smith is going to have a lot to work with as he calls plays for the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2026.
The Buckeyes have bountiful weapons on offense and a Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback running the show in Julian Sayin. Jeremiah Smith could go down as one of the greatest wide receivers of all-time in college football, let alone the best player in the country in 2026.
Smith can pull just about any lever he wants as an offensive coordinator, and players like Jeremiah Smith and freshman phenom wideout Chris Henry Jr. are bound to get a ton of action.
But is there a world in which Smith, a former NFL offensive coordinator and head coach, decides to lean on the run at Ohio State?
According to Kirk Herbstreit, it’s certainly possible.
Smith is most comfortable running the rock as a play-caller, and Herbstreit is wondering how that will impact Ohio State’s offense in 2026.
“You know, if you think about him in the NFL, everybody thinks of Derrick Henry, and then when he went down to Atlanta, obviously in Pittsburgh,” Herbstreit said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday (h/t On3). “I mean, he is a run-first kind of guy, but with the weapons that he has, you know, are we going to see 12 and 13 personnel mixed in a little bit more or we open it up with Sayin and all those wide receivers that they have? (It’ll) be interesting just to see what approach he has.”
Could Arthur Smith lean on the run game with the Ohio State Buckeyes?
Smith made his name as the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, where he leaned heavily on Derrick Henry and the running game. As head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he was also not afraid to run the rock, especially with Bijan Robinson as a rookie.
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t run it much compared to the rest of the NFL in 2025 with Smith as offensive coordinator, but they did have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.
Sayin is no Rodgers, but he can air out the rock. Last season, he threw for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns, averaging nearly 300 yards per game in the regular season.
It helps having an elite wideout in Smith. The Buckeyes also welcomed in Henry Jr. this past offseason, who was a 5-star recruit.
With that said, running back Bo Jackson rushed for 1,090 yards and six touchdowns last season as a freshman, so Smith could certainly choose to put his pedal to the metal and lean on teams via the run game in 2026.
He has options, and he’s a play-caller with high-level NFL experience. That has to be extremely scary for the rest of the college football world.
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