Ohio State senior running back Jordan Hall had his appeal for a medical redshirt approved and will be returning for another season with the program, the school confirmed Thursday.
With a little better luck and health, the Buckeyes figure to be adding another dangerous weapon to a spread offense that was supposed to feature Hall prominently last season but wound up leading the Big Ten in scoring without him.
Hall's versatile skills made him the ideal candidate for coach Urban Meyer's hybrid, pivot position that Percy Harvin made famous at Florida, but a fluke accident in the summer after stepping on a piece of glass led to surgery that kept him on the sideline for all of training camp and knocked him out of the starting job he was projected for after spring practice.
Once he returned, Hall wasted little time proving he was capable of forming a productive partnership with quarterback Braxton Miller, rushing for 192 yards on 34 combined carries in wins over California and UAB in September and looking more than capable of taking over the load in the backfield.
But Hall partially tore the PCL in his right knee the next week in the Big Ten opener at Michigan State, an injury that put him back on the shelf for the rest of the season and got the wheels turning for a potential second take at a senior year.
He's officially got it now, and an offense that is already returning the vast majority of its starters from a perfect season is adding one more experienced option to the arsenal.
