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The Big Ten has had its share of Doak Walker Award winners since it was first awarded to Washington’s Greg Lewis in 1990. Wisconsin has garnered three of the seven Big Ten running backs to win the award, the most recent being Melvin Gordon last season. Considering the running back talent in the conference in recent years, it’s not an outlandish statement to say that the award will remain the Big Ten for its silver anniversary. The most obvious candidate from the conference is Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott.
And why wouldn’t he be? He took college football by storm in the 2014 postseason. He romped on Wisconsin’s fourth-ranked defense for 220 yards and two touchdowns in the Big Ten Championship game. Following that, he flat-out embarrassed Alabama and Oregon in the College Football Playoff, highlighted by his iconic 85-yard touchdown run in the waning minutes of the Sugar Bowl, and his record-breaking performance in the National Championship game. That three-game stretch served as a mere preview of what Elliott will accomplish this season.
Ohio State returns four of five starters on the offensive line from last season. Elliott’s quickness and power combined with an experienced offensive front will be a nightmare for any whole defensive unit, not just the front seven. Elliott has the ability to get to the second level in a hurry, and if the offensive line opens lanes for him like they did at the end of last season, opposing safeties and corners are going to be in for some long games.
As an added bonus, Elliott is an excellent pass blocker. He has the capability and physicality to buy those precious extra seconds for his quarterback (Ohio State has three of them in case you’ve been living under a rock). In the game against Oregon, he was called upon several times to be an extra blocker for quarterback Cardale Jones on pass plays, and did so tremendously.
Elliott has already established himself as one of the all-time greats in Ohio State Football. His highly-anticipated 2015 season could propel him to the school’s first Walker Award winner since Eddie George in 1995, its eighth Heisman Trophy, and most importantly, Ohio State’s ninth national championship.
Brooks Hooley is a Junior Big Ten Football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @brookshooley.
