IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa's Kaleb Johnson is returning to his home state this week motivated to show the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes what they missed out on.
The junior didn't receive a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes when he was coming out of Hamilton High School. He'll head into Saturday's game at Ohio Stadium as the nation's second-leading rusher and coming off the best performance of his career.
“I’m entering it with a chip on my shoulder no matter what because it’s O-State, and I want to beat them,” Johnson said. "I want to play against them, because they’re the top dogs. I’m the type of person that wants to beat the top dogs. I don’t want to be with them, I want to beat them. It’s always a thing for me, to show what I’ve got against the best people in the country.”
The season keeps getting better for Johnson, who is 73 yards shy of 2,000 career yards.
He began the season as Iowa's No. 3 running back and suspended for the first half of the opener for violating team rules. He ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns in the second half against Illinois State and moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart the next week. His 187 yards and two TDs against Iowa State earned him the promotion to No. 1.
Johnson went for 173 yards and two TDs against Troy and a career-high 206 yards and three TDs in his last game, a 31-14 win at Minnesota on Sept. 21. He scored twice in the second half against the Gophers as Iowa came from behind in the second half. His outing earned him the Big Ten’s co-offensive player of the week award and plenty of national attention.
“I really kept the little stuff out, the social media stuff out,” Johnson said. “We’ve got eight games left, and I want to focus on them.”
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he didn't how much it would fuel Johnson's fire to face Ohio State considering how well Johnson has been running all season.
“I’m not saying he wasn’t motivated before,” Ferentz said, "but I think he’s really focused on the right things now, and it’s showing up in his performance.”
Johnson showed his potential in his first two seasons. He had 779 rushing yards and six touchdowns as a freshman in 2022 and 463 yards and three touchdowns last season as he battled injuries.
Johnson has thrived under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester. He has popped a nation-leading 12 runs of 20 yards or longer over four games. He had 11 over his previous 23 games.
“You notice Kaleb is a special athlete the moment you meet him,” Lester said. “The first time you see him run, you see a combination of size and speed and balance and physicality that’s rare.”
Still, there were nuances to Lester’s offense that Johnson had to discover.
“My biggest question for him was how he would see the mid-zone run game, and it took a while,” Lester said. “He was trying to pick and choose his holes, and not letting the (play) develop. There’s a certain amount of patience to the run game. I knew as soon as he could find the holes, and understand the vision and the timing of this thing, he would be fine.”
Lester said he appreciates the all-out effort Johnson gives every day.
“I always finish my runs, 10 to 15 yards ahead of the play after it’s over with,” Johnson said, "just because I want to finish. You know the saying — practice like you play.”
Johnson will be going against an Ohio State defense that ranks third nationally in run defense at 61.8 yards per game.
“If I do good, and my team does good, we’re going to win,” he said.
Johnson acknowledged his attempt to keep up with Boise State's Ashton Jeanty is another source of motivation.
Johnson used the Hawkeyes’ open date last week to watch football, and he saw Jeanty rush for 259 yards and four touchdowns against Washington State.
“That man’s crazy — 260 (yards), four TDs, that’s crazy, bro,” Johnson said.
Jeanty is averaging 211.3 yards per game — the highest rushing average through Week 5 of a season in seven years — and Johnson is next at 171.3.
Now Johnson gets a big stage against the Buckeyes.
"I’m competing back and forth (with Jeanty), so just keep going,” he said. “It’s my turn now.”