TreVeyon Henderson, Braelon Allen continue ongoing Ohio State-Wisconsin battle for Big Ten running back supremacy

INDIANAPOLIS -- Minnesota didn’t have much to go off of when TreVeyon Henderson came to town for his debut as an Ohio State football player.

All the Golden Gophers knew was that he arrived with a ton of hype as the No. 23 player and top running back in the 2021 class. He came with so much hype that Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt mentioned him on numerous occasions leading up to the first time he could get the ball in his hands during their Fox broadcast of the Thursday night game.

The sample size in the 45-31 win was small but impactful enough to validate the hype.

“He made a statement in that first game to the nation of how good he really is,” linebacker Marianno Sori-Mari said. “Just seeing him last year, he had such a tremendous season. He’s a really good running back.”

Henderson’s first touch came just shy of a big run, settling for 10 yards. His second touch resulted in a 70-yard touchdown. That set the tone for becoming the fifth OSU freshman to run for 1,000 yards.

While Henderson was projecting what the next few years might look like, another first-year running back was doing the same in the Big Ten West. Braelon Allen didn’t have the Henderson’s level of hype when he got to Wisconsin. He wasn’t even a running back in his first season. He arrived as a four-star linebacker and a borderline top-200 player, switching to offense once he got on campus.

Like Henderson, the path to Allen taking over at his position took a few weeks. But after 131 yards and a score in a 24-0 win over Illinois, he announced his plan to be one of the nation’s best young backs. By late November, he shredded Nebraska for 228 yards on 22 carries with three touchdowns.

The Golden Gophers were next, and were on alert. It resulted in a 47-yard game on 17 carries. It was the only time in his nine starts that he was held under 100 yards. Minnesota accomplished its mission but still walked away impressed with what it saw.

“Braelon Allen’s definitely a Jonathan Taylor type,” Mariano Sori-Marin said. “Strong, physical running back. He’s gonna break arm tackles. You’re gonna have to use proper technique on them.”

The Big Ten has stumbled into its latest edition of “Who has the better running back: Ohio State or Wisconsin?”

First, there was Melvin Gordon vs. Ezekiel Elliott in 2014. Gordon dominated that discussion for most of the season, earning an invite to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist. But Elliott won the head-to-head matchup in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Then came J.K. Dobbins and Jonathan Taylor. Two backs linked from the moment they stepped onto their respective campuses in 2017. Dobbins won all three head-to-head matchups, and both were Doak Walker Award finalists in 2019. But the only hardware he has to show for it is a 2017 Big Ten Championship Game MVP trophy. Taylor won pretty much everything else.

Elliott quickly established himself as one of the NFL’s best players, while Gordon’s career has been at best workmanlike. Dobbins and Taylor’s battle was put on hold because of a preseason injury to Dobbins last year, while Taylor emerged as a MVP candidate.

Now the Big Ten has Henderson and Allen. Two running backs coming from different ends of the recruiting spectrum who made an impact the moment they were given extended roles.

Henderson ran for 1,248 yards and 15 touchdowns on 183 carries while adding another 312 yards and four touchdowns on 27 catches. Allen ran for 1,268 yards and 12 touchdowns on 186 carries while adding another 39 yards on eight catches.

Now they’ll spend the next two years fighting to prove whose better with a collision in Columbus set for Sept. 24 on ABC.

Once again, a conference known for its running back play has found two young standouts. But that level of play isn’t a new concept. Kenneth Walker III turned himself into a Heisman candidate in his lone season at Michigan State.

“It’s the Big Ten,” Nebraska defensive end Garrett Nelson said. “Everybody has a phenomenal back every year. Pretty much in the NFL, the Big Ten and SEC guys are a lot of the premier running backs. They’re big. They’re fast. They’re strong. They run aggressively. It’s the same thing every year and every week.

“‘Freak of nature and absolute maniac,’ is always thrown around with some of these guys. Hearing those words is not something new. Just prepare the same every week and hit a little harder.”

But this time has an extra incentive unique to the relationship between Ohio State and Wisconsin. This time provides the third installment of a battle that may once again be decided in Indianapolis come December.

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