Ohio State hires football asst from Big Ten rival

Ryan Day and Ohio State reached into expanded Big Ten country to find a new football assistant.

Nov 19, 2022; College Park, MD, USA; The Ohio State Buckeyes helmet decal / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA

Ever since the surprise departure of Mike Alford from its coaching staff, Ohio State has been on the lookout for a new running backs coach, and now the Buckeyes have their man.

Ohio State has hired former Oregon assistant coach Carlos Locklyn as its new running backs coach for the 2024 season, the school announced on X/Twitter.

Initial reports suggest Locklyn signed a two-year deal with Ohio State.

Locklyn will take on his third on-field coaching role by joining the Buckeyes, working initially at Memphis as weight room assistant, offensive analyst, and director of high school relations.

From there, he moved on to Florida State, where in 2020 he served the same high school director position and was instrumental in the Seminoles' top-25 ranked recruiting class that year.

Locklyn's first on-field coaching role came at Western Kentucky as running backs coach during the 2021 campaign, helping spearhead an offense that was second in FBS in scoring with 44.2 points per game and with 536 yards per game.

He joined Oregon in 2022 and emerged as a strong recruiting force both on the trail and in the transfer portal, helping bring on Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington to the Ducks' backfield, and last offseason helped recruit Jordan James to Oregon via the portal.

Now, Locklyn joins a running back room at Ohio State that is among college football's most skilled, featuring returning starter TreVeyon Henderson and notably acquired blue-chip transfer Quinshon Judkins, who led the SEC in rushing the last two seasons at Ole Miss.

Locklyn replaces Alford, who left the Buckeyes to take the same position at Michigan this offseason.

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