Kaelon Black RB Indiana |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #8 ROLE: Work-Horse Back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 03/23/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.45 seconds (83%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Invite: Senior Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #8 | |
| ROLE: Work-Horse Back | |
| Last Updated: 03/23/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.45 seconds (83%*) | |
| Bowl Invite: Senior Bowl | |
| Overall Rating: | 80.6 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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79% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Rushing: |
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82% |
| Break Tackles: |
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73% |
| Receiving/Hands: |
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53% |
| Pass Blocking: |
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42% |
| Run Blocking: |
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57% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
7th
Overall Rank:
#226
Position rank:
#12 (RB)
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| College Games: 54 College Snaps: 1177 | ||
247 RATING: 79/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.4 (89%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Trevor Etienne - Georgia |
|
83% |
| Pierre Strong Jr. - South Dakota State |
|
78% |
| Jordan James - Oregon |
|
77% |
Drafted: ROUND: 3 - Pick Number: 90 (SF)
Draft Profile: Bio
Salem High School in Virginia Beach watched Kaelon Black pile up 3,360 career rushing yards and 55 touchdowns across three varsity seasons, earning three first-team All-Beach District selections, district Offensive Player of the Year, and all-region honors as both a sophomore and junior. A multi-sport athlete who also competed in basketball and track, Black committed to James Madison as a two-star recruit out of the 2020 class, arriving in Harrisonburg without much recruiting fanfare but with a proven track record of production on the ground.His time at JMU was a mixed bag of flashes and frustration. Black showed real promise as a true freshman in the spring 2021 season, ripping off a 141-yard debut performance against William & Mary, but a season-ending injury during his redshirt freshman year cut short what looked like a breakout campaign after just three starts. He returned in 2022 and landed on the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll following a 131 all-purpose yard, two-touchdown effort at Appalachian State, earning VaSID Offensive Rookie of the Year honors as well. His junior season saw him serve as a steady contributor with 668 rushing yards and 214 receiving yards across 13 starts, though the per-carry average dipped. Over four years at JMU, he carried 266 times for 1,344 yards with 53 receptions for 440 yards and six receiving touchdowns.
When Curt Cignetti packed his bags for Bloomington, Black followed. After a quiet 2024 as a rotational piece (251 yards on 46 carries), he seized his opportunity during Indiana's historic 2025 season. Black rumbled for 1,034 yards and 10 touchdowns on 186 carries (5.6 yards per attempt) as the Hoosiers reached the College Football Playoff and won a national championship. He saved some of his best work for the biggest stages: 99 yards against Alabama in the semifinals, a 110-yard outing against Maryland during the regular season, and a two-touchdown performance against Oregon in the title game. He finished his college career with 3,123 all-purpose yards, 23 total touchdowns, and his bachelor's degree in liberal studies.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Runs with a low pad level that makes him incredibly difficult to knock off balance, and he consistently wins the leverage game against linebackers and safeties in the hole.
- Patient enough to let blocks develop but decisive once he commits, attacking daylight with a quick burst that catches second-level defenders flatfooted at the mesh point.
- Generates serious yardage after contact thanks to a thick lower half and relentless leg churn; defenders rarely bring him down with arm tackles or first attempts.
- Compact build allows him to squeeze through tight creases along the offensive line, getting skinny between bodies where bigger backs would get swallowed up.
- Willing and aggressive in pass protection, stepping into oncoming blitzers without hesitation and showing no fear against linebackers with a full head of steam.
- Reliable ball security throughout his career, with only five fumbles across nearly 500 career carries and a clean sheet on lost fumbles during his breakout 2025 season.
- Strong lateral agility and quick feet let him redirect and jump-cut to exploit backside lanes when his primary gap gets walled off by the defense.
- Showed real competitive toughness in marquee games, delivering his best performances against top-tier competition like Ohio State, Alabama, and Oregon during the CFP run.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Lacks top-end long playing speed to pull away from defensive backs in the open field, and pursuit angles will catch him at the next level more often than in college.
- Receiving profile is alarmingly thin for the modern NFL, with just seven targets and five catches during his biggest season; his route tree barely exists beyond dump-offs.
- Undersized frame at 5'10" and 210 pounds raises durability concerns if asked to shoulder a featured workload over a 17-game NFL season.
- Run blocking grades were consistently mediocre throughout his college career, and his technique in pass protection does not always match his effort and willingness.
- Never carried the ball more than 186 times in a single season, leaving real questions about whether he can handle the volume that comes with an expanded NFL role.
Scouting Report: Summary
Black's tape screams "reliable early-down grinder who won't lose you a game." He is the kind of back who picks up the hard four yards on second-and-five, converts short-yardage situations by dropping his shoulder, and keeps drives alive through sheer physicality. His rushing ability graded out at an excellent level during his final college season, and the after-contact production (646 yards after contact, 30 missed tackles forced) confirms what your eyes tell you on film: this kid runs angry and makes tacklers pay. When he plants his foot and hits the hole, there is real violence in his game.The concerns are legitimate, though, and they cap his ceiling. At the next level, the receiving limitations are going to matter. NFL coordinators want their third-down backs to threaten the short-to-intermediate passing game, and Black simply has not demonstrated that ability. Seven targets in a full season is a red flag, not just a small sample. His speed, while solid on the stopwatch, does not consistently translate to big plays on the field or threaten the edge in stretch runs. He is a between-the-tackles runner through and through, and the league is trending away from one-dimensional backs, especially ones without elite size or breakaway ability.
The most realistic path for Black is as a complementary piece in a committee backfield, ideally behind a more dynamic starter who handles receiving work. He brings Day 1 value as a short-yardage specialist, a willing blitz pickup man, and a special teams contributor with years of experience in that phase. His ceiling is a No. 2 back who carves out a long career by doing the dirty work and staying healthy. His floor is a training camp body who does not make the 53 because the pass-catching limitations make him redundant in a numbers crunch. The truth probably lands somewhere in between, and whichever organization invests a late-round pick will be getting a tough, dependable runner who knows his role and plays it well.
Kaelon Black percentiles vs other Running Backs (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Kaelon Black (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
203.3
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
16.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.