Miyan Williams returning for Buckeyes 2023 season
COLUMBUS — Ohio State running back Miyan Williams is coming back for the 2023 season.
He hinted at a potential return Thursday afternoon when he tweeted “unfinished business” with a picture of him in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal.
The Columbus Dispatch confirmed with Williams that he is, in fact, returning for a fourth season.
Williams, a third-year back from Cincinnati and former four-star prospect from Winton Woods, led Ohio State with 825 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground this season. He did that while averaging an impressive 6.4 yards per carry, and while dealing with an array of injuries.
The theme of the year for the Buckeyes running back room was injuries, actually.
Ohio State lost second-year back Evan Pryor for the season in August. Walk-on TC Caffey was sidelined for the year in October. TreVeyon Henderson — a former five star and the No. 1 running back in the 2021 class according to On3 — was limited by a nagging foot injury that he said included “torn ligaments and a broken bone,” an injury that ended up keeping him out of the CFP. That followed a true freshman season in which Henderson piled up 1,248 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.
Williams missed the Michigan State game with a knee injury, left the Penn State matchup early with a hand injury and then was out 1.5 games with an apparent lower-leg injury he suffered in the first half against Indiana before rushing just eight times versus Michigan.
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Then, the week of the Peach Bowl, Williams missed practice time because of illness. True freshman Dallan Hayden, who finished second on the team in carries (111) and third in rushing yards (553) this season, got the start in the CFP semifinal, and Williams got only three carries, but one of them went for a touchdown amid the Buckeyes’ heartbreaking 42-41 loss.
Williams played just 290 offensive snaps in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus. He made the most of them, though. Williams was first on the team in yards after contact, and it wasn’t close. His 559 yards in that department were 199 more than any other Buckeyes player, per PFF.
He also registered 48 missed tackles forced — to put that into perspective, Hayden was second on the team with 19. Williams’ physical running style played a big part in the 5-foot-9, 225-pounder logging the 12th-highest PFF run grade (91.1) among FBS running backs this season.