Xavier Newman

Early life

Newman-Johnson was born on August 4, 1999, in DeSoto, Texas. He attended DeSoto High School and was an All-American and all-state selection in football. He was ranked among the top 300 best recruits nationally by ESPN and helped his team average 540 offensive yards-per-game as a senior. Newman-Johnson initially committed to play college football at Texas.

Newman-Johnson later flipped his commitment to Colorado, then to Baylor. As a true freshman at Baylor, he appeared in 11 games, starting eight as a left guard. The following season, Newman-Johnson started three games at left guard and appeared in a further four. As a junior, he started eight games at right guard and appeared in a total of 10. In his senior season, he appeared in five games, starting four, three of which came at left guard and the remaining one at center.

After being given an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Newman-Johnson opted to return to Baylor in 2021 for a fifth season. That year, he started all 14 games at left guard and helped the team average 219.3 rushing yards per-game, which placed 10th in the nation. He was an honorable mention all-conference selection and finished his college career with 47 games played and 37 starts.