Ja’Kobi Jackson is the outlier in Ohio State’s running back room.
Out of six scholarship players in Carlos Locklyn’s unit, five of them are in either their first (Legend Bey and Favour Akih) or second (Bo Jackson, Isaiah West and Anthony “Turbo” Rogers) year of college football. Ja’Kobi Jackson, however, is in his seventh year out of high school, tying him with tight end Hunter Welcing for the oldest player on the team.
Jackson didn’t know until just over a week before the transfer portal opened in January whether he would be granted a seventh year of collegiate eligibility. But after missing Florida’s final eight games of last season with a shoulder injury, Jackson was granted a medical hardship waiver to play one more year of college football – news he received just two days before Christmas.
“So it really was like a Christmas present,” Jackson told Eleven Warriors while attending last week’s Versiti blood drive at Ohio Stadium.
A member of the 2020 high school class, Jackson started his college career at the junior college level, playing three seasons at Coahoma Community College before enrolling at Florida in 2023. He redshirted his first year at Florida, preserving his remaining eligibility, before emerging as part of a three-man running back rotation for the Gators in 2024, when he ran for 509 yards and seven touchdowns on 95 carries.
Jackson expected to follow that up with another productive season in Florida’s backfield last year, but ran for just 98 yards on 27 attempts before his season was cut short. So Jackson applied for one more year of eligibility for the chance to finish his career strong.
“Just facing an injury and not finishing how I really expected to finish coming off the year I did have the year before,” Jackson said of why he chose to play a seventh year of college football.
After three years at Florida, which has a new coaching staff in 2026 after firing former head coach Billy Napier midway through last season, Jackson decided he wanted something different for his final year of college football. He chose to be a Buckeye because he believed in Ohio State’s plan for him and connected with the Buckeyes’ coaching staff, particularly running backs coach Carlos Locklyn.
“His energy and just his personality that he brings every day, you know he's real, he's going to give it to you raw. And that's something I enjoy about a coach,” Jackson said of Locklyn.
With six years of college football experience under his belt, Jackson feels as though he’s transitioned well to Ohio State this spring.
“It's been pretty smooth since I'm already a veteran guy. So getting a hold of the system, it hasn't been really tough,” Jackson said. “Just been kind of every day, just staying consistent.”
As the elder statesman among Ohio State’s running backs – to say the least – Jackson says he already feels like a veteran leader in the room. He’s tried to help the much younger running backs however he can – though he hasn’t felt like they’ve needed much help.
“Just kind of helping them and showing them the things that I’ve found out over the years, kind of being their big brother to them,” Jackson said. “They pretty much understand (what they need to do), they pretty much got a good hang of it already. So just kind of come in and just being a leader, being myself and doing me really.”
After watching most of last season from the sidelines, Jackson says the biggest advice he’s given the other running backs is to do everything they can to keep themselves healthy.
“Availability is the best ability,” Jackson said. “So just staying in the treatment room and staying healthy, that's the only thing I can tell them.”
Jackson is one of the only running backs who’s actually been consistently available for Ohio State this spring. West and Bo Jackson are both missing the entire spring after undergoing shoulder surgeries earlier this offseason, while Bey and Rogers have also been limited by injuries. As a result, Ja’Kobi Jackson has been taking many of the running back reps with the first-team offense this spring, an opportunity he’s fully embraced.
“I enjoy everything about it, my teammates, the brotherhood, everything that we're building. It's just great to be a Buckeye,” Jackson said of his first spring at Ohio State. “Getting back into this football type of feeling, I'm just excited and just very blessed to be back out there.”
Where Jackson will stand on the depth chart once Ohio State’s running back room gets back to full strength remains uncertain. Bo Jackson returns as the Buckeyes’ starter, while West remains the presumptive frontrunner to be his top backup. Bey is also a player to watch, as the talented and versatile freshman was generating plenty of buzz early this spring before suffering his injury setback.
That said, Jackson has age and experience that no one else on Ohio State’s running back roster can match. And as Ohio State looks for more explosiveness from its running game this season, Jackson – who averaged 5.4 yards per carry for Florida in his last fully healthy season – believe that’s an area where he can add value.
“I feel like I can bring explosive plays and just all-around depth for the offense,” Jackson said. “Just to better the offense, whether it's run game or in the pass game or in blocking.”
Ja’Kobi Jackson, who has comparable measurables to Bo Jackson at 5-foot-11 and 217 pounds, believes he will complement Bo and Isaiah’s games well in Ohio State’s offense this season.
“I feel like we all have similar traits,” Jackson said. “We all are different, but I feel like just our vision and our ability to make people miss is something that we all bring to the table.”
