Ohio State’s famed summer camps have produced their share of fireworks over the years, but Friday morning’s boom felt unusually loud for the middle of June. Barely two hours into the Buckeyes’ one‑day evaluation session in Columbus, eighth‑grader Elijah Newman‑Hall—a 6‑foot, 205‑pound runner from Blake High School in Tampa—strode to the podium inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and announced that he was shutting down his recruitment and pledging to Ohio State. With that statement, the Buckeyes not only added a bruising tailback whose blend of power and top‑end speed already turns heads, they also landed the very first commitment of the 2028 cycle.
The relationship between Newman‑Hall and running‑backs coach Carlos Locklyn spans less than a month, but it has been intense. Locklyn first spotted the Floridian at an underclassmen showcase in Bradenton in late May and quickly extended an invitation to camp in Columbus. Newman‑Hall, intrigued by the opportunity to test himself against the best, arrived Tuesday, ripped off a 4.55 in the forty and flashed violent one‑cut acceleration during outside‑zone drills. Locklyn conferred with Ryan Day, an offer was made on the spot, and the teenager spent the next 48 hours touring campus and soaking in the program’s culture before deciding he had “seen enough.”
Because the major services are only beginning to build their 2028 databases, Newman‑Hall carries no composite ranking, but the raw production pops off the page. As a freshman last fall he racked up 829 yards on just 80 carries (10.4 per rush) while adding eight touchdowns; defensively he logged 28 tackles and eight sacks, proof of a motor that never idles. With live‑game weight already north of two‑hundred pounds, he punishes would‑be tacklers yet retains enough wiggle to set up second‑level defenders. Those traits made Florida State, Miami, UCF and Wake Forest early suitors, but Newman‑Hall insisted that the atmosphere in Columbus “felt like family the moment I stepped off the plane
