The Chicago Bears on Thursday hired Stan Drayton from the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes to replace running backs coach Skip Peete.

Drayton, a 22-year coaching veteran, spent the last four seasons with Ohio State — three of them coaching running backs.

Last season, sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliott finished third in the nation and second in school history with 1,878 rushing yards.

Elliott ran for 230 yards and two touchdowns in a 42-35 win over Alabama in the national semifinal and rushed for 246 yards (third-most in school history) and four touchdowns in Ohio State’s 42-20 win over Oregon in the national championship game.

In 2013, Carlos Hyde rushed for 1,521 yards and 15 touchdowns for Ohio State.

Mike Weber, a Michigan high school running back who signed with the Buckeyes on Wednesday, said on Twitter after learning Drayton was leaving, “I’m hurt as hell. I ain’t gonna lie.”

Drayton’s only NFL experience has been with the Green Bay Packers, where he was offensive quality control coach/special teams from 2001 to 2003.

He also has coached running backs at Penn (1995), Villanova (1996-99), Bowling Green (2000), Mississippi State (2004), Florida (2005-07 and 2010), Tennessee (2008) and Syracuse (2009).

Peete joined Marc Trestman’s staff in Chicago in 2013 after spending the past 15 seasons coaching running backs with the Oakland Raiders (1998-2006) and Dallas Cowboys (2007-12).

Trestman was fired after last season, and John Fox was hired after the Denver Broncos released him last month.

The Bears had the 27th-ranked rushing attack in 2014, averaging just 90.1 yards per game. Matt Forte rushed for 1,038 yards (3.9 per carry) and six touchdowns.