Players to Watch: If healthy, Bo Jackson poised for big 2026 season

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Every day from now until the start of the season, Land-Grant Holy Land is highlighting Ohio State football players that you should be watching this season. Check out all of our ”Player to Watch” articles to get ready for the season opener against Ball State.

We’re in the final month of Ohio State’s offseason, with the Buckeyes’ first game of the year set for Sept. 5 at the Horseshoe against Ball State. As is our tradition here at Land-Grant Holy Land, we are dedicating our August to getting our readers ready for the upcoming season by spotlighting OSU players to watch throughout the month.

Just to ease into things, I wanted to kick off my contributions to this series of articles by stating the obvious: Bo Jackson is a player to watch.

Although the final seven words of the sentence above will seem obvious to most of those reading the articles on this site, there are several reasons for this to be the case.

We’ve been talking about Jackson since before he became a breakout star in 2025, with our Jami Jurich stating why he was a player to watch prior to last season; Gene Ross writing that Jackson was Ohio State’s best running back in any situation as far back as early last October; Alex Frank predicting that the second-year rusher would lead the Big Ten in yards in 2026; and Brett Ludwiczak making the case that he and Isaiah West will combine for 2,000 rushing yards this season.

I even wrote about why I think Jackson can rush for 1,500 yards himself this year, pushing Ohio State’s offense into the top five nationally (Alex also wrote this summer that 1,500 yards was Jackson’s ceiling).

In short, we’ve spilt a lot of virtual ink writing about Jackson in these pages over the last year, so it’s obvious that he’s a player worth noting. In light of our players to watch series, why not dive in, get one of the more obvious names out of the way, and focus on the reasons why he’s being spotlighted here for the 2026 campaign?

Before arriving in Columbus, Jackson was a multi-sport star at Villa Angela–St. Joseph, where he ran for more than 2,000 combined yards and nearly 40 touchdowns his final two seasons, despite being slowed by a knee injury his senior year.

Even though his knee limited him to just under 600 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior, Jackson emerged as a four-star recruit. He was the No. 5 running back in the country and No. 6 player at any position in Ohio, according to 247Sports.

As a freshman, Jackson eventually emerged as the go-to back, fighting through injuries all season and posting 1,090 yards on 179 attempts for an average of 6.09 yards per attempt. Jackson averaged 13.8 rushing attempts and 83.9 yards per game — numbers poised for an increase in 2026. He wasn’t the short-yardage option for the offense, however, and he only scored six touchdowns.

Despite being limited by injuries as a true freshman and starting the year behind transfer CJ Donaldson as the starter, Jackson put up solid numbers for any running back, let alone someone in their first year in college.

After sitting out spring practice following shoulder surgery, he enters preseason camp as the projected starter under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who likes to lean on the running game to set up the pass. He’ll have filled in a bit more after a year in Ohio State’s training program and has a season of experience to draw upon in his second year.

While Jackson will face a tougher regular-season schedule in 2026, it’s fair to expect a few more explosive runs due to better footwork in the hole, less leaning/better center of gravity, breaking more arm tackles, and plain old experience (nothing beats it as a learning tool for football players).

Smith’s approach to running the football to set up the pass will also work in Jackson’s favor, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jackson catch more passes out of the backfield in 2026 as well, as the Buckeyes have plenty of weapons to clear out room underneath for him to find space.

I’d be surprised if he didn’t build on the 19 receptions for 200 yards and a touchdown that he logged in 2025.

It’s imperative for Jackson to stay healthy in 2026 after two consecutive years of being slowed by various knocks. A good showing close to the 1,500 yards that I and my colleagues wrote about in the links higher in this post could serve Jackson’s eventual draft status well and would certainly help the Buckeyes reach their team goals in 2026.

With good players behind pushing Jackson, it’s reasonable to expect a solid season for the sophomore out of Cleveland.

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