Bo Jackson got the obvious question.
It was often as a high school running back when he met with college coaches. During the early visits, they would invariably ask him about carrying the same name as the iconic two-sport superstar of the 1980s.
The coaches wondered about the origin of the name and if he felt pressure trying to live up to his namesake.
“He had a whole two or three years of answering those questions,” said his father, Lamar Jackson Sr. “He always kept it humble.”
Jackson avoided making comparisons to the running back who won the Heisman Trophy at Auburn in 1985. He said he was just trying to be himself. They are no relation.
“The name is just a respectful homage to the greatness of a former player,” Lamar Sr. said.
In his debut as a freshman at Ohio State, he is standing out on his own. Jackson shot up the depth chart in September, and after rushing for 100 yards in consecutive nonconference wins, he took over as the Buckeyes’ starting running back.
During a win over Penn State last week, he eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the first time against a Big Ten opponent with 105, another flash of budding stardom as the Buckeyes entered the last month of the regular season.
“We really need him to play his best football down the stretch,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said, “but he has shown consistency.”
How Ohio State’s Bo Jackson got his nickname
He was born Lamar Jackson Jr., but it didn’t take long for his father to find him a nickname.
“It’s really weird saying your own name,” Lamar Sr. said.
Lamar Sr. considered calling him “Junior,” but it never clicked.
Instead, he got creative, trying the “Bo” moniker as a nod to one of his childhood sports heroes. He and his brothers had looked up to the running back and outfielder while growing up in Baltimore.
“Bo just rolled off the tongue,” he said, “and stuck right out of the womb.”
It wasn’t long before his Bo Jackson became a multisport star as well, showing versatility throughout high school.
He played basketball, baseball and competed in track and field along with football at Villa Angela-St. Joseph in Cleveland.
Jackson revealed his greatest potential on fall Friday nights. He started out as a linebacker and safety as a freshman before becoming the Vikings’ primary back as a sophomore, the position he had first played in youth leagues. He ran for nearly 1,700 yards as a junior.
“He was different,” Villa Angela-St. Joseph coach Jeff Rotsky said. “He just had the tools. He had the size, he had the speed, and he wasn’t afraid.”
The blend is a reason he has made an immediate impact with the Buckeyes, beginning with his first carry against Grambling State that went for an 11-yard touchdown.
As a 6-foot, 217-pound running back, he has the strength to shed tackles, gaining nearly three-fourths of his 538 rushing yards after contact. He has also outrun them. Jackson has three runs of at least 50 yards in seven games, the second most among Big Ten running backs.
He showed his explosiveness on a 51-yard run in the fourth quarter against Penn State. When cornerback Zion Tracy angled to tackle him near midfield, diving toward his legs, he missed. Jackson just sped past him and broke away until he was caught at the Nittany Lions’ 11-yard line and was pushed out of bounds.
While a gaping hole was left for him on the left side of the offensive line, he has at other times found tighter ones. To gain a season-long 64 yards on a run against Ohio, he slipped between blocks from center Carson Hinzman and left guard Luke Montgomery. The vision, which allowed him to spring loose for the big play, is rare for a freshman.
“He’s just got that natural God-given instinct,” Rotsky said, “but he’s worked at it and developed it. There are very few like him.”
The Buckeyes began this year with a need at running back. TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, who formed a dynamic backfield tandem last season, left for the NFL, prompting them to sign three freshmen and bring in CJ Donaldson Jr. as a transfer from West Virginia.
Though Jackson was the highest-ranked freshman to join them for spring practice and had apparent physical gifts, he was not a lock to start. He had just recovered from an injury when he enrolled at Ohio State in January.
He was rolled up in Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s win over Kenston four months earlier. The knee sprain did not require surgery, but led him to miss the final seven games.
The abrupt end to his high school career was painful. Jackson had hoped to return, but doctors encouraged caution for a prospect with a bright future. The Buckeyes had first offered him a scholarship at a summer camp in 2022.
“For him to not be able to finish his senior year was probably the most adversity he’s been through sports-wise in his entire life,” said Lamar Sr., who also coaches the Vikings’ freshman team.
While Jackson was sidelined in late 2024, he eyed a full recovery and strengthened his resolve as he prepared to join the Buckeyes. It has not been uncommon for freshman running backs to see carries right away or even start for Ohio State, as Henderson did as recently as 2021.
“I saw a kid who knew something was taken from him,” Rotsky said, “and it was God’s plan, but he was not going to be denied. He lived in the weight room. He got bigger and stronger and now even faster. He just worked on his craft.”
Jackson was already a product of a strong work ethic.
It was not long after he turned 5 years old that he began tagging along with his older brothers, Omari and Ty Howard, for runs on a grassy hill at a public park in Euclid. (Ty is a senior linebacker with the Buckeyes after transferring to Ohio State from Duquesne last winter.)
When they worked out on their weight sets in the basement, Jackson joined them as well. He started doing push-ups and sit-ups, then bench presses and squats as he grew older.
He wanted bragging rights among his brothers.
“That literally was the drive,” Lamar Sr. said, “just so one day he could have a dinner conversation and say I’m faster than you or stronger than you.”
To the benefit of the Buckeyes and their hopes for a repeat national championship run, he has not let up yet.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow along on Bluesky, Instagram and X for more.
