
Running back, Indiana (from James Madison), 2020–25
Kaelon Black
- Number
- No. 8
- Height
- 5′10″
- Weight
- 210 lb
- Class (2025)
- Senior
- Hometown
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Born
- Oct 17, 2001
Wikipedia readers: about 9,190 a month over the past year
Kaelon Black played running back at James Madison (2020–23) and Indiana (2024–25). The San Francisco 49ers took Black in round 3, No. 90 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
125rushing yards, career highvs. Bucknell, 20232rushing touchdowns, career hightwice; last vs. Oregon, 20252receiving touchdowns, career highvs. Georgia Southern, 2023Team titles: National champions, 2025 (Indiana); Big Ten champions, 2025
Rushing
| Season | Team | Car | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | James Madison | 69 | 333 | 4.8 | 3 | 27 |
| 2023 | James Madison | 142 | 637 | 4.5 | 1 | 57 |
| 2024 | Indiana | 46 | 251 | 5.5 | 2 | 21 |
| 2025 | Indiana | 187 | 1,039 | 5.6 | 10 | 40 |
| Career | 444 | 2,260 | 5.1 | 16 | 57 | |
Receiving
| Season | Team | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | James Madison | 17 | 177 | 10.4 | 2 | 25 |
| 2023 | James Madison | 25 | 238 | 9.5 | 4 | 34 |
| 2024 | Indiana | 4 | 6 | 1.5 | 0 | 8 |
| 2025 | Indiana | 4 | 36 | 9.0 | 0 | 11 |
| Career | 50 | 457 | 9.1 | 6 | 34 | |
Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls.
On the roster
| Season | Team | No. | Pos | Class | Ht | Wt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | James Madison | 8 | RB | Fr. | ||
| 2023 | James Madison | 8 | RB | So. | ||
| 2024 | Indiana | 8 | RB | Jr. | ||
| 2025 | Indiana | 8 | RB | Sr. | 5′10″ | 210 |
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Per play
| Season | Team | Plays | EPA/play | Pctile | Median | Total | Usage | Adj. rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | James Madison | 87 | 0.08 | 31st (n=470) | 0.14 | 7.2 | 14% | 0.03 |
| 2023 | James Madison | 147 | 0.12 | 38th (n=450) | 0.17 | 17.8 | 19% | 0.02 |
| 2024 | Indiana | 50 | 0.19 | – | – | 9.6 | 7% | 0.11 |
| 2025 | Indiana | 193 | 0.19 | 77th (n=576) | 0.10 | 37.3 | 18% | 0.27 |
Expected points added: how much the player’s plays moved the team’s expected score, per play and in total. Plays: total EPA divided by EPA per play, the plays the source credits to him (for a receiver roughly his catches and runs, not every target; for a passer, not every attempt), so it can differ from attempts plus carries. Percentile: against the position’s regulars that season across all divisions on file (quarterbacks with 150+ plays, backs 60+, receivers and tight ends 30+), with how many there were (n) and their median; a dash means too few plays to rank. A season in progress uses the full-season bar scaled by games played, never below 75 plays for quarterbacks, 30 for backs and 20 for receivers. The cohort grows or shrinks with the source’s coverage each season (2025 lists far more players), so compare percentiles rather than raw EPA across years. FCS seasons are marked. Usage: the share of the team’s plays the player was part of (shown from 20 plays). Adjusted pass and rush: EPA per play adjusted for the defenses faced (CollegeFootballData’s WEPA). From CollegeFootballData, 2013 on.
Rushing detail
| Season | Team | Success | Line yards | Second level | Open field | Stuffed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Indiana | 47% | 3.30 | 1.10 | 1.50 | 16% |
Where his yards came from, per carry: line yards are the ones credited to the blockers (the first few, and losses), second level the yards 5 to 10 past the line, open field those beyond 10. Success: carries that kept the offense on schedule. Stuffed: carries stopped at or behind the line. From CollegeFootballData, FBS games, 2025 on.
Game by game
2025 Indiana 16 games, 1,039 rushing yards, 10 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Yds | TD | Long | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30 | vs. | W 27–14 | 17 | 92 | 1 | 36 | – | – |
| Sep 6 | vs. | W 56–9 | 10 | 57 | 0 | 29 | – | – |
| Sep 12 | vs. | W 73–0 | 7 | 68 | 0 | 29 | – | – |
| Sep 20 | vs. | W 63–10 | 10 | 89 | 1 | 40 | – | – |
| Sep 27 | at | W 20–15 | 11 | 38 | 0 | 10 | – | – |
| Oct 11 | at | W 30–20 | 7 | 31 | 0 | 14 | – | – |
| Oct 18 | vs. | W 38–13 | 10 | 64 | 1 | 29 | – | – |
| Oct 25 | vs. | W 56–6 | 10 | 70 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 10 |
| Nov 1 | at | W 55–10 | 14 | 110 | 1 | 31 | – | – |
| Nov 8 | at | W 27–24 | 12 | 32 | 1 | 10 | – | – |
| Nov 15 | vs. | W 31–7 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| Nov 28 | at | W 56–3 | 13 | 66 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 6 |
| Dec 6 | vs. | W 13–10 | 16 | 69 | 0 | 37 | – | – |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs. | W 38–3 | 15 | 99 | 1 | 25 | 1 | 11 |
| Jan 9 ✦ | vs. | W 56–22 | 12 | 63 | 2 | 23 | – | – |
| Jan 19 ✦ | vs. | W 27–21 | 17 | 79 | 0 | 20 | – | – |
2024 Indiana 11 games, 251 rushing yards, 2 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Yds | TD | Long | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31 | vs. | W 31–7 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | – | – |
| Sep 6 | vs. | W 77–3 | 5 | 30 | 0 | 14 | – | – |
| Sep 14 | at | W 42–13 | 5 | 21 | 0 | 7 | – | – |
| Sep 21 | vs. | W 52–14 | 7 | 55 | 1 | 21 | – | – |
| Sep 28 | vs. | W 42–28 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 7 |
| Oct 5 | vs. | W 41–24 | 5 | 33 | 0 | 10 | – | – |
| Oct 19 | vs. | W 56–7 | 4 | 22 | 1 | 10 | – | – |
| Oct 26 | vs. | W 31–17 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Nov 2 | at | W 47–10 | 6 | 19 | 0 | 6 | – | – |
| Nov 9 | vs. | W 20–15 | – | – | – | – | 1 | −4 |
| Nov 30 | vs. | W 66–0 | 7 | 34 | 0 | 16 | – | – |
2023 James Madison 13 games, 637 rushing yards, 1 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Yds | TD | Long | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | vs. | W 38–3 | 12 | 125 | 0 | 57 | – | – |
| Sep 9 | at | W 36–35 | 12 | 25 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 18 |
| Sep 16 | at | W 16–14 | 13 | 78 | 0 | 28 | 4 | 42 |
| Sep 23 | at | W 45–38 | 17 | 76 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 43 |
| Sep 30 | vs. | W 31–23 | 19 | 61 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 3 |
| Oct 14 | vs. | W 41–13 | 11 | 45 | 1 | 20 | 3 | 38 |
| Oct 19 | at | W 20–9 | 16 | 33 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 5 |
| Oct 28 | vs. | W 30–27 | 10 | 43 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 20 |
| Nov 4 | at | W 42–14 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 30 |
| Nov 11 | vs. | W 44–6 | 4 | 38 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 5 |
| Nov 18 | vs. | L 23–26 | 6 | 28 | 0 | 16 | – | – |
| Nov 25 | at | W 56–14 | 7 | 35 | 0 | 14 | – | – |
| Dec 23 ✦ | vs. | L 21–31 | 11 | 43 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 34 |
2022 James Madison 9 games, 333 rushing yards, 3 TD
| Date | Opponent | Result | Car | Yds | TD | Long | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 3 | vs. | W 44–7 | 9 | 31 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 25 |
| Sep 10 | vs. | W 63–7 | 9 | 54 | 1 | 22 | – | – |
| Sep 24 | at | W 32–28 | 18 | 85 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 23 |
| Oct 1 | vs. | W 40–13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| Oct 22 | vs. | L 12–26 | – | – | – | – | 3 | 20 |
| Nov 5 | at | L 10–34 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 27 |
| Nov 12 | at | W 37–3 | 11 | 56 | 1 | 27 | 4 | 37 |
| Nov 19 | vs. | W 42–40 | 7 | 35 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 26 |
| Nov 26 | vs. | W 47–7 | 10 | 50 | 0 | 12 | – | – |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
Played in the 2026 Senior Bowl (American team, won 17–9).
| Drill | Combine 2026 | Pro day 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 5′9″ | 5′9¼″W |
| Weight | 208 lb | 211 lbW |
| Arm length | 29½″W | |
| Hand size | 8⅞″W | |
| Wingspan | 70⅞″W | |
| 40-yard dash | 4.46 sW | |
| 10-yard split | 1.53 sW | |
| Vertical jump | 37½″W | |
| Broad jump | 10′5″W | |
| Bench press | 27 repsW | |
| 20-yard shuttle | 4.55 sW |
Unmarked: Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data); W: Pre-draft measurables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Rosters and honors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the NFL
1 season, 5 games with a stat; latest team: San Francisco 49ers.
| Season | Team | G | Car | Yds | TD | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | San Francisco 49ers | 5 | 37 | 136 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat.
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