CJ Donaldson Betting On Himself In Move To Ohio State

When CJ Donaldson decided to leave West Virginia after three years with the Mountaineers, it was not a decision he made lightly. He then put that same kind of care and thought into where he would be transferring.

Ohio State stood out for a number of reasons. They did just win a national championship after all, and said goodbye to their top two running backs. The Buckeyes provided an opportunity to win that Donaldson had never truly gotten to experience in his time at WVU, but there was also an opportunity to become the best version of himself with the help of OSU running backs coach Carlos Locklyn.

“It was difficult,” Donaldson said of his time in the transfer portal. “I like to say it’s like speed dating. There’s a lot of calls, a lot of red carpet talk, but what separated the Buckeyes from every other program was Coach Lock. He told me that he would challenge me and help me develop into the player that I know I can be.”

Donaldson was with the team during their Cotton Bowl win over Texas and their national title game win over Notre Dame. He helped out on the scout team. He saw what it took at the running back position as TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins shared the workload and supported each other every step of the way.

Now a Buckeye himself, Donaldson couldn’t say enough about his experience at Ohio State so far.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “Surrounding myself around the best of the best, allowing myself to develop as a person, a player, and also just being a part of this family for the past, what, two, three months has been an amazing experience.”

Part of the process of becoming the best version of himself was dropping about 20 pounds during the winter. He arrived at Ohio State weighing in at over 240 pounds, but if he was going to be as explosive as the Buckeyes needed, he was going to need top drop some weight.

“[Locklyn] wanted me to be more explosive and have more short-area burst,” Donaldson explained. “That’s something that I lack in my game and he continually tells me to work on that day in, day out. It’s amazing. He’s going to coach you hard, but he loves you at the end of the day. He does it because he loves you. He’s going to coach you hard, he’s going to push you, and he’s going to hold you accountable, but he does that because he loves us.”

Now that Donaldson has dropped the weight, he feels like he’s better equipped to shine this spring.

“I can feel the difference out here when I’m running at 225,” he said. “I feel like I’m running like the Flash right now. So, yeah, my speed, I definitely feel quicker, more explosive, just, you know, getting off the ball and continually working on my short area burst as frequently as possible.”

Since the day CJ Donaldson arrived at Ohio State, the OSU staff has been helping him get better. Whether it was nutrition and eating habits, the weight room and where he needed his playing weight to be, to developing the necessary skills to play in the NFL. Resources have been poured into his improvement, and he plans to make the most of it.

“This is my last guaranteed opportunity to have a chance to play football, because the NFL is not promised,” he said. “You have to earn that, so I just took a chance on myself. I’ve got to bet on myself at all times.”

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