Ohio State picked up a new addition out of the transfer portal today and received a nice Christmas gift when Arizona State transfer DeaMonte Trayanum announced he’d be heading to Columbus to continue his career.

Coming back home playing defense, ain’t no other way to do it! O-H ? #AnotherKidFromAkron pic.twitter.com/i7kOJU5DAo

— DeaMonte Trayanum (@Chipperrz_) December 25, 2021

Trayanum played a big role for the Sun Devils in his first two seasons, rushing for a combined 691 yards in 13 games while playing second-fiddle to Rashaad White. Despite White heading to the NFL Draft, Trayanum decided that it was in his best interest to continue his career elsewhere and finally will wind up in Columbus after a long saga.

Interestingly, Ohio State is looking at Trayanum more as a linebacker, rather than as a running back. Trayanum played both sides of the ball in high school and Ohio State has seen success moving running backs to linebacker, doing so with Zach Boren in 2012 and Steele Chambers this past season. The Buckeyes have a deep running back room with TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, Evan Pryor, and Marcus Crowley expected to return, plus the upcoming arrival of freshman Dallan Hayden.

Trayanum, a native of Akron and graduate of Archbishop Hoban, visited Ohio State five times during his original recruiting cycle before choosing Arizona State over other offers from many midwestern schools.

Always good to be back in the shoe.. pic.twitter.com/a8KWuV0NGG

— DeaMonte Trayanum (@Chipperrz_) June 20, 2019

Trayanum visited Michigan last week, and the Wolverines wanted to bring him in to play running back, but in the end the opportunity to play linebacker at his home-state school won out.

Rated as the No. 285 prospect in the 2020 class, Trayanum is the first transfer that Ohio State has added this offseason.