Taft High School football star Elias Rudolph dedicates this season to his late brother

Every snap of this football season has significant meaning to Taft High School junior defensive end Elias Rudolph. "I've got a chip on my shoulder for my brother," Rudolph said Tuesday during practice. "This year, I'm just going hard. I got to dedicate this year to him." Rudolph, one of Ohio's top football players in the 2024 class, draws inspiration from the memory of his late brother, former Taft football player Gianni Rudolph. Gianni Rudolph died in December. He was just 19 years old.