#12

CJ Donaldson

Senior running back for Ohio State. 2025: 361 rushing yards, 10 rushing TD, 15 catches.

RB · Ohio State · Sr. · #12

6′2″ · 232 lb · Miami, FL

CFB Index 50 · #128 of 326 RBsHigh confidenceReturning to Ohio State for 2026

How he plays

Wears you down at the goal line.

Success rate: 98th percentile.

The full scouting read

The numbers

361

rushing yards · 2025

10 TD · 3.8 per carry · 15 catches

Backed by 9 car · 101 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing TDs game.

Swing playSwung Ohio State from 45% to 66% to win.Ohio State at Purdue · 34-10

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for Ohio State. 2025: 361 rushing yards, 10 rushing TD, 15 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to West Virginia in 2022.
Transferred from West Virginia to Ohio State in 2025.

His career, year by year

CJ Donaldson

RB · Ohio State · Sr · #12

Wears you down at the goal line. Across four seasons and two programs, three head coaches: Neal Brown, Chad Scott and Ryan Day. His first career honor landed in 2022: Big 12 Newcomer Player of the Week. One game to point at: 67 rush yds, 9 rec yds against Texas — Week 1, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2022West Virginia5-7HC: Neal Brown · Balanced

2023West Virginia9-4HC: Neal Brown · Run-heavy

2024West Virginia6-7HC: Chad Scott · Run-leaning

2025Ohio State12-2HC: Ryan Day · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

50Rotational starter #128 of 326?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: success rate (98th percentile). Strength: td rate (97th percentile). Concern: explosive rate (6th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Success rate#9 / 456 · 98th pct

59.4%

TD rate#14 / 456 · 97th pct

8.5%

EPA / carry#126 / 456 · 72nd pct

0.20

Yards / carry#396 / 456 · 13th pct

4.0

Explosive rate#431 / 456 · 6th pct

1.4%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush TDs#33 / 349 · 89th pct

Receptions#132 / 338 · 59th pct

Rec yards#161 / 338 · 53rd pct

Fumbles lost#55 / 201 · 49th pct

Carries#180 / 349 · 48th pct

Rush yards#230 / 349 · 34th pct

361

Long run#263 / 349 · 24th pct

Yards / carry#315 / 349 · 9th pct

3.8

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

58th → 72nd percentile

Success rate

54th → 98th percentile

Explosive rate

35th → 6th percentile

Yards / carry

31st → 13th percentile

TD rate

76th → 97th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home8g	26.2	3.9	0.6
Road5g	30.2	3.8	1.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	38.3	4.3	0.9
Weeks 8+6g	15.5	3.3	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Ryan Day

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

50 · #128 of 326 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #128 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Big Ten

Based on 2025: #20 of 44 Big Ten RBs

How the All-Big Ten estimate is computed

22% estimated, 95% confidence interval 19–25%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Ohio State	96	361	3.8	10	--
2024	West Virginia	163	734	4.5	11	--
2023	West Virginia	171	798	4.7	11	--
2022	West Virginia	87	526	6.0	8	--
Career		517	2,419	4.7	40	--

Season	Team
2025	Ohio State	15	96	6.4	1	--
2024	West Virginia	14	104	7.4	1	--
2023	West Virginia	9	59	6.6	0	--
2022	West Virginia	10	17	1.7	0	--
Career		48	276	5.8	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 5 · 2025

W 24–6

at Washington

39 rush yds (9 car) · 1 TD

With J. Sayin — 208 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 88.9 · 12 rush yds (4 car) · B. Inniss — 3 rec · 34 yds

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 5 · Washington · 4&1 · Q1 · EPA -4.15CJ Donaldson run for no gain to the WASH 5
Week 5 · Washington · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA +2.83Julian Sayin pass complete to CJ Donaldson for 4 yds for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 1 · Texas · 4&1 · Q2 · EPA +2.79CJ Donaldson Jr 1 Yd Run (Jayden Fielding Kick)
Week 2 · Grambling · 3&2 · Q2 · EPA +2.54CJ Donaldson run for 2 yds for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 7 · Illinois · 3&2 · Q3 · EPA +2.54CJ Donaldson run for 2 yds for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 7 · Illinois · 3&1 · Q1 · EPA +2.45CJ Donaldson run for 1 yd for a TD (Jayden Fielding KICK)
Week 10 · Penn State · 3&1 · Q3 · EPA +2.45#12 C.Donaldson Jr rush left for 1 yard gain to the PSU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:18 #38 J.Fielding kick attempt good (H: #42 J.McGuire, LS: #43 J.Ferlmann)
Week 11 · Purdue · 3&1 · Q4 · EPA +2.45(06:25) #12 C.Donaldson Jr rush middle for 1 yard gain to the PUR00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 06:19, 1ST DOWN #38 J.Fielding kick attempt good (H: #42 J.McGuire, LS: #43 J.Ferlmann)
Week 13 · Rutgers · 2&5 · Q4 · EPA +2.44#12 C.Donaldson Jr rush middle for 5 yards gain to the RU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 11:39. The previous play is under automatic review - "Runner broke the plane". CALL OVERTURNED. (Original Play: #12 C.Donaldson Jr rush middle for 4 yards gain to the RU01 (#9 J.Elad) PENALTY OSU UNS: Unsportsmanlike Conduct (#70 P.Daniels) 14 yards from RU01 to RU15) #38 J.Fielding kick attempt good (H: #42 J.McGuire, LS: #43 J.Ferlmann)
Week 14 · Michigan · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA +1.98(04:20) #12 C.Donaldson Jr rush middle for 3 yards gain to the OSU41 (#10 Z.Berry), 1ST DOWN

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 14-7vs Texas	19	67	3.5	1	8	Season-high 67 yds
Wk 2	W 70-0vs Grambling	5	45	9.0	1	27
Wk 3	W 37-9vs Ohio	9	39	4.3	0	11
Wk 5	W 24-6@ Washington	9	39	4.3	1	11
Wk 6	W 42-3vs Minnesota	3	3	1.0	1	1
Wk 7	W 34-16@ Illinois	13	44	3.4	2	10
Wk 8	W 34-0@ Wisconsin	2	12	6.0	0	13
Wk 10	W 38-14vs Penn State	7	17	2.4	1	5
Wk 11	W 34-10@ Purdue	5	12	2.4	2	4
Wk 13	W 42-9vs Rutgers	3	8	2.7	1	5
Wk 14	W 27-9@ Michigan	14	44	3.1	0	8
Wk 15	L 10-13vs Indiana	—	—	—	—	—
Bowl	L 14-24vs Miami	7	31	4.4	0	12
Total		96	361	3.9	10	27

How he plays

Play style

Short-yardage and goal-line specialist. Carries the load, owns the red zone.

CFB Index positional classification

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

14/163rd/4th & short

21/45Inside-5 share

14 of 16 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (87.5%). 21 of the team's 45 inside-the-5 carries (46.7%).

2026 Outlook

Ohio State

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Running back · Ohio State

Returning around him

68% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
11 Ohio State players drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: -21 net (17 in / 38 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Ohio State · Last season: 12-2 (AP #3) · Talent rank #5 · 2026 recruiting class #4

DNA match

Player DNA

Power Back

Short-yardage and goal-line specialist. Carries the load, owns the red zone.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Nicholas Singleton’s 2025 season.

Nicholas Singleton

66%match

Penn State · 2025

NFL Rd 5

Thad Franklin

Miami · 2022

64%

Anderson Castle

Duke · 2025

62%

Joshua McCray

Illinois · 2024

62%

Adam Randall

Clemson · 2025

NFL Rd 5

62%

Matches Nicholas on

Receiving share

Weight

Differs from Nicholas on

Height (higher)

Yards / reception (lower)

EPA / carry (adj) (higher)

Through 4 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Demetric Felton’s path through UCLA.

Demetric Felton

100%match

UCLA · 2020

All-Pac-12NFL Rd 6

Peytton Pickett

Jackson State · 2021

99%

Caleb Huntley

Ball State · 2020

All-MAC

95%

Joshua Samuel

Austin Peay · 2022

94%

Dedrick Mills

Nebraska · 2020

93%

Matches Demetric on

Yards per carry

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Nicholas Singleton's senior season at Penn State (2025).

Nicholas Singleton

72%match

Penn State · 2025

All-Big TenNFL Rd 5

Adam Randall

Clemson · 2025

NFL Rd 5

67%

Dylan McDuffie

Kansas · 2023

All-MAC

66%

La'Vell Wright

Western Kentucky · 2025

61%

Jalen Macon

Northern Illinois · 2025

60%

Matches Nicholas on

Receiving share

EPA / carry (adj)

Weight

Differs from Nicholas on

Yards / reception (lower)

Height (higher)

Player DNA

Players who play like CJ Donaldson

Dawson Pendergrass

Baylor · 2024

73%

Mark Fletcher Jr.

Miami · 2024

73%

Ollie Gordon

Oklahoma State · 2024

71%

Joshua McCray

Illinois · 2024

71%

Dante Dowdell

Nebraska · 2024

69%

Heisman trajectory

Heisman Trajectory · 2025

Peak #80

Final rank

#80

Avg #124.3

Finalist prob 0%

Peaked at #80 this season.

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

CJ Donaldson

20227 games

202513 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Part-time starter

Career stats

Signature game

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Power Back

Players who play like CJ Donaldson

Heisman trajectory

Peak #80