Ohio State football lands Arizona State transfer RB to play LB

Ohio State football is bringing one of the best transfers in the portal back home to be a Buckeye, but he’s making a big position switch to do so.

Back in the 2020 recruiting cycle, Ohio State football was in on Akron native DeaMonte Trayanum in hopes that he would join the Buckeyes. Alas, they missed out on the 4-star prospect as he, instead, took his talents to the Arizona State Sun Devils.

But after two years in Tempe at the running back position, Trayanum entered the transfer portal and reopened his options about where to finish his college football career.

In the end, he decided to head back home as he landed with Ohio State — but he’s planning on making the switch to the opposite side of the ball.

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Ohio State football: DeaMonte Trayanum transferring to Buckeyes to play LB

Based on what we saw from Trayanum at Arizona State, the switch from running back to linebacker might be a bit surprising. After all, he was a key weapon for the Sun Devils, putting up 402 yards and six touchdowns in the 2021 season.

When you pull back and widen the scope, though, there is some sense to the switch.

Coming out of Akron as a high school recruit, various colleges were after him as both a running back and linebacker as he played both sides of the ball during his prep football days. He obviously landed with a school that wanted him on offense but is now pivoting from that to head to Columbus.

With Ohio State football missing out on the College Football Playoff this year at least in part due to a down-tick on defense, perhaps Trayanum’s position switch and return to Ohio could be part of the recipe to get things back on track for the Buckeyes.

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