played at least 10 snaps<\/a> in every game, though he hasn\u2019t played more than 21 snaps in any game.\n<\/p>\n\n\tWhile Jackson (6.45 yards per carry) and West (5.21 yards per carry) are increasingly starting to separate themselves as Ohio State\u2019s top two runners, Peoples (4.75 yards per carry) wouldn\u2019t still be in the rotation if the Buckeyes didn\u2019t think he brought value. And he still thinks he can make an impact for the Buckeyes in all areas of the offense.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI love running between the tackles, catching the ball, being put out in space, making people miss, getting downhill. I mean, I think to me, everything is a strength,\u201d Peoples said. \u201cAnd I’ve really been working on that. You see the growth from my freshman year to this year. And just being through the program and everything, I’ve really strengthened up every part of my game and continue to get stronger in areas; pass protection, everything like that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOne area where Peoples has seen regular work is in the passing game. More than half of his snaps this season (80 of 151) have been on passing plays, and he\u2019s caught four passes in Ohio State\u2019s last three games, though he hasn\u2019t yet had a catch go longer than 12 yards.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPeoples started his football career growing up playing wide receiver before becoming a running back, which he believes has made him a well-rounded back who can be a weapon in the passing game.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI’ve always had good hands and I’ve always been agile and being able to move me in that area is something they’ve done more this year,\u201d Peoples said. \u201cSo I mean, I think it’s always just been a strength of mine. It’s never been a weakness in my hands, being able to catch the ball in space and stuff like that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat Peoples hasn\u2019t done often this season is break off explosive runs. Outside of a late-game drive in Ohio State\u2019s blowout win over Minnesota in which he had 33- and 13-yard runs, Peoples doesn\u2019t have any other runs longer than 11 yards in Big Ten play.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPeoples acknowledged that he\u2019s hungry to make a home-run play, especially since his opportunities to carry the ball have been limited. But he also knows that trying to hit a home run on every play can be counterproductive.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cEvery time you want to be like, \u2018Man, I gotta strike, I gotta strike.\u2019 But having your mind like that can really throw you off of your game,\u201d Peoples said. \u201cSo I\u2019d say really just taking each play as its own individual play and not really being worried about, \u2018OK, I need to strike, I need to do this, that, and the third.\u2019 \u2018Cause my reps might be limited, but really just taking the most out of every opportunity, just keeping my mindset on that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State\u2019s running game as a whole has underperformed expectations, and that\u2019s given the Buckeyes more reason to lean on their freshmen rather than sticking with the veterans who were expected to lead the depth chart entering the season. But Peoples believes he\u2019s grown as the year has progressed and remains confident he can be an asset to the Buckeyes as they approach their biggest games of the year.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis game comes with a lot of ups and downs, man, and being able to navigate through that and to put your best foot forward each Saturday in and out and even coming to practice and work every day, just seeing my growth as a player, my growth as a person, all that’s really just been continuing to go in the right direction,\u201d Peoples said.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tRELATED Ohio State vs. UCLA Preview: Shutting Down Nico Iamaleava Will Shut Down UCLA in the Buckeyes\u2018 Likely Final Home Night Game of 2025<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\tGiven the expectations entering the season that Peoples would be a consistent playmaker in Ohio State\u2019s offense, and that he has just 292 yards from scrimmage through nine games, his season can certainly be described as a disappointment so far. But Peoples knows the Buckeyes\u2019 biggest games of the year are still ahead and that there\u2019s still time for him to rewrite the story of his season.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe got a lot of football left. We’re going all the way back to the championship; we’re gonna have six or seven more games. And there’s a lot of ball left. So really just keeping my mind on that and knowing in God’s timing, if I keep on doing what I’m doing, it’s gonna happen,\u201d Peoples said. \u201cSo just being focused, focusing on the team, the guys in the room, and all on the main goal.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI’m hungry for it, man,\u201d Peoples added. \u201cI came here and I want to be a contributor to this team, of course. So every time I’m in there, I’m giving it my all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering the 2025 season, James Peoples was projected as a potential breakout star in Ohio State\u2019s running back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-292956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}