For Ohio State Buckeyes fans who watched C.J. Donaldson punch in short-yardage scores last fall, the latest news out of New Orleans feels familiar.
The Saints are promoting the former Buckeye running back from the practice squad to the active roster for Week 2, according to reporter Nick Underhill.
It is the latest step in a winding path that took the Miami product from West Virginia to Columbus and now into a chance to play on Sundays.
Donaldson, whose given name is DeCarlo, arrived in Columbus for the 2025 season after three years with the Mountaineers.
Ohio State used him as a physical complement in a crowded backfield, and he answered by leading the team with 10 rushing touchdowns. He carried 96 times for 361 yards and added 15 receptions for 96 yards.
His first score in scarlet and gray came on a one-yard plunge against then-No. 1 Texas, part of a 67-yard night that set the tone for how the staff trusted him near the goal line.
He later found the end zone more than once against Washington, Illinois, and Purdue. Those moments were not highlight-reel bursts so much as the kind of compact, north-south running that Ohio State needed when the field shrank.
That profile is what New Orleans liked after the 2026 draft. Donaldson went unsigned through seven rounds, then joined the Saints as an undrafted free agent. He was waived at the end of camp and quickly signed back to the practice squad.
Promotion now, early in the regular season, suggests the staff sees him as more than a scout-team body. Over four college seasons he played 45 games, ran 517 times for 2,419 yards and 40 touchdowns, and caught 47 passes for 286 yards and two scores.
The production was never about long speed. It was about finishing drives, protecting the quarterback, and occupying a role many programs treat as interchangeable. Ohio State treated it as essential.
Buckeye followers will recognize the pattern. Transfers who spend one year in Columbus often leave with a clearer professional identity than they arrived with. Donaldson already had Big 12 production and academic honors.
What he added in 2025 was a taste of the Big Ten physicality and a reminder that a 6-foot-2, 230-pound back can still matter if he is reliable in the red zone.
Whether that translates in New Orleans depends on opportunity and health around him. For now, the story is simpler.
A player who scored the first touchdown of Ohio State’s 2025 season is getting his first real look on an NFL active roster, and the people who watched him in Columbus know exactly why a team would take that chance.
