The NFL Draft kept former Pike Road High School star Quinshon Judkins in Ohio. After Judkins paced Ohio State to the CFP national championship for the 2024 season, the Cleveland Browns selected the running back in the second round on April 26.

Judkins played one season for the Buckeyes after two seasons at Ole Miss. He said he was adjusting to the Midwest after spending almost all his life in the Deep South.

“When I first went to Ohio State, I only had two jackets in my whole closet, and now my closet is full of jackets,” Judkins told Sports Illustrated in a question-and-answer session at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere. “… My mom is like, ‘You keep buying all these jackets, it’s summertime.’ I got to change the way I dress. I got so many coats, it’s ridiculous.”

READ “QUINSHON JUDKINS Q&A: ROOKIE RB FEELS ‘AT HOME’ AS A CLEVELAND BROWN”

Even with the coats, though, Judkins said Ohio didn’t feel like home yet.

“It does not, I’m not going to lie to you,” Judkins said. “Alabama is really hot. It’s humid. It’s a lot of trees. Not really too much to do. I’ll say my time in Columbus was quite the opposite, because my family came to town for games, different stuff that we could do. We could travel, and they have cabins out there, different things, downtown, as far as amusements for families.

“And then, I’ll say it’s just really cold there, too. The weather, it’s snowing. When I was at Ohio, it was the first time I learned how to plow the snow off my car in my driveway, so it was definitely a different experience for me. But I adjusted to it, and it’s normal for me now.”

The Browns added Judkins after he ran for 1,060 yards and 14 touchdowns on 194 carries and caught 22 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns for Ohio State in 2024. In the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in the CFP national-championship game on Jan. 20, Judkins had 100 yards and two touchdowns on 11 rushing attempts and 21 yards and one touchdown on two receptions.

Judkins also won a championship at Pike Road – the AHSAA Class 5A title for the 2021 season, when Judkins earned All-State recognition for the second time.

Cleveland most recently won the NFL championship in 1964 and went 3-14 in the 2024 season.

“When I come to be a Cleveland Brown, I’m coming in to change the organization, contribute, do the best I can,” Judkins said. “I know what it takes to win, so I’m going to bring that mentality here to Cleveland and do the same thing.”

The Browns start the final phase of their offseason program on Tuesday. Cleveland will break for the summer after its June 19 practice.

The Browns’ ground game is in transition this offseason. Nick Chubb ran for 6,511 yards and 48 touchdowns and earned four Pro Bowl invitations in his first five seasons before he sustained a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the 2023 campaign.

Chubb made it back for eight games in 2024, but he remains unsigned this offseason after recording 332 yards and three touchdowns on 102 rushing attempts.

Running back Jerome Ford, who spent his first two college seasons at Alabama, led the Browns with 565 yards and three touchdowns on 104 carries in 2024.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.