Ohio State junior running back Quinshon Judkins is leaving school early to declare for the 2025 NFL draft, he told ESPN on Friday.
“My time here at Ohio State was like to other,” Judkins told ESPN in a phone interview. “It was like no other place I’ve ever been. I enjoyed my time here so much. I’m ready to take the next step in my journey and prove I’m best running back in draft class.”
Judkins, who had one year of collegiate eligibility remaining, leaves the Buckeyes after just one season with the program, albeit a highly successful one. The former two-time first-team All-SEC tailback at Ole Miss was one of the key contributors to Ohio State’s national championship season, making a seamless transition from the SEC to the Big Ten by rushing for a team-high 1,060 yards and 14 touchdowns on 194 carries.
Judkins made perhaps his most significant impact in Ohio State’s four College Football Playoff games, where he totaled 255 rushing yards and an impressive six touchdowns on 47 carries, each of those coming at the goal line.
He saved his best performance for last in the Buckeyes’ 34-23 championship game win over Notre Dame on Monday, totaling two rushing touchdowns and another receiving score to go with his team-high 100 yards on the ground. One of those scores was a bruising 9-yard score where he stiff armed a Notre Dame defender near the line of scrimmage and barreled his way into the end zone to give the Buckeyes a 14-7 second-quarter lead.
Judkins’ production came with another 1,000-yard rusher joining him in the backfield in TreVeyon Henderson, who added 1,016 yards and 10 touchdowns on 144 carries of his own. Judkins said that he and Henderson, who became just the third OSU rushing duo in history to both total 1,000 yards in a season, were able to coexist and have success in the backfield because of their selfless mentality and strong relationship they built with the Scarlet and Gray.
“TreVeyon is such a great player,” Judkins said after the championship game. “I think it’s just the relationship that we have between each other, how we balance off each other and how good our game is. No matter who’s in the game, we’re both going to perform, and I think we do a great job of supporting each other throughout that. We learned so much from each other as well. So I think it paid off in the end.”
Judkins now will look to continue his production at the next level and prepare for the upcoming NFL draft from April 24-25 at historic Lambeau Field, where he is expected to be a second-round selection with a 17.3 percent chance to be picked in the first round, according to nflmockdraftdatabase.com.
He will add to a huge crop of Buckeyes who will enter the draft and likely be picked early, a group that includes Henderson, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive ends JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer, offensive linemen Donovan Jackson and Josh Simmons and cornerbacks Denzel Burke and Jordan Hancock, among many others.
