Ezekiel Elliott left Ohio State as a national champion and one of the best running backs in school history. The No. 4 pick of the 2016 NFL Draft went on a rampage through the league during a historic rookie season for the Dallas Cowboys.

But it all could have played out differently. Back in January 2013, Ohio State found themselves locked in a recruiting battle with Missouri for Elliott, then a four-star prospect from St. Louis and No. 4 running back in the class who previously committed to the Buckeyes in April 2012.

It's a surefire selection with the benefit of hindsight. Back in those simpler times, however, people questioned the level of Elliott's competition. How much did that factor into his looking like a man amongst toddlers?

That question apparently lingered with Urban Meyer and his offensive coordinator and running backs coach, Tom Herman and Stan Drayton.

In an interview with The Dallas News, Herman and Drayton, now the head coach and running backs coach at Texas, revealed just how close the staff was to walking away from Elliott. Herman in fact suggested they do.

From sportsday.dallasnews.com:

"We were debating on just whether to take him," Herman recalled to The News. "It came down to the 11th hour with Missouri. We were like, 'Maybe we should just let him go' because we had another running back in that class. "Stan said, 'No, we're going to fight for this one.' We got him. Credit Stan Drayton for that one."

Those questions percolated in Meyer as well. The two-time champion saw a recruiting scrap with Missouri as unbecoming of a historically prestigious university. Again, Drayton went to bat for Elliott during a recruiting visit watching the running back star in an "average to below average" basketball game.

Meyer: "Well, how good is he, really? Man, Stan. We're fighting Mizzou. Ohio State doesn't recruit against Mizzou. I'm sitting here looking at this kid. He's a man amongst boys. Is he Ohio State caliber. Drayton: "I think he is, no doubt about it."

Drayton convinced Meyer. And despite Elliott taking a last-minute official visit to his in-state power, he signed with the Buckeyes in February 2013. Ohio State also added four-star running back Dontre Wilson of DeSoto, Texas, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The News' full story is worth reading, even if Herman and Drayton misremember the sequence of events that led to Elliott almost decapitating a Purdue Man later that year: