Versatile Freshman Running Back Emerges For Dukes
When others bailed on Kaelon Black, James Madison didn’t.
“That meant something to me,” the Dukes’ redshirt freshman running back said Tuesday after practice, “and it really let me know they were committed to my talent and that their commitment wouldn’t slack off. I knew I’d bounce back from my injuries, and now I just thank God I’m in this position.”
Black is in the midst of a superb preseason. He’s everywhere on the field for the Dukes – running the ball, catching it out of the backfield and returning kicks – while solidifying himself a versatile role for this fall.
The ex-Salem High School standout’s future is promising.
“He’s got a chance to be real, real special. Real special,” third-year JMU coach Curt Cignetti said.
It was Cignetti and his assistants, particularly cornerbacks coach Matt Birkett, who diligently targeted and stayed connected with Black throughout the playmaker’s recruitment to ensure he’d end up in Harrisonburg.
As a sophomore, Black said, scholarship offers came fast and furious. Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and East Carolina were all involved early and in pursuit of Black after seeing him in person when he shined at their respective prospect camps. Those programs all offered him way before JMU reached out during the spring of his junior year, and not long after Cignetti and his staff arrived at the school.
The senior season Black put together was stellar, too. He rushed for 1,732 yards while leading the Sun Devils to a 12-1 mark and the Virginia High School League Class 5A finals. But, at the end of his last prep campaign Black suffered a knee injury similar to the one he initially suffered as a junior on the heels of earning those coveted FBS offers.
“He was going to go to [Virginia] Tech at first,” Shawn Wilson, Black’s coach at Salem High School, said. “He was going to commit to them and at the last minute, they said they had no spots. I don’t know what was up with that. … But all of a sudden, a lot of schools said he wasn’t big enough, fast enough, strong enough.”
Black said: “In my senior year, for some reason [the recruiting] started winding down.”
JMU, though, paid attention throughout that senior season and so did Toledo, and those were the two schools Black ended up deciding between. The Dukes offered that November and never wavered, according to Black and Wilson.
“Coach Birkett is a pretty good guy, man,” Wilson said. “He just always sat back in the background and was like, ‘Coach, we’ve got him. We’ll take care of him and we don’t give fake scholarship offers, so what we offered him is real and we’ll be ready to go.’ He was always there and always had Kaelon’s back.”
Black committed and signed to JMU a month later. He said he envisioned fitting in with the group of running backs he witnessed and was so impressed with during a game he trekked to Bridgeforth Stadium for.
“I visited the Villanova game that year and that was a packed game,” Black said. “Latrele [Palmer] had a big run. Percy [Agyei-Obese] was going crazy. Jawon [Hamilton] and Solomon [Vanhorse] were getting reps as well.”
Now, Black appears to be firming up his spot within the deep backfield of Dukes.
Agyei-Obese, a fifth-year senior and an All-American, is the unquestioned No. 1 running back on the team and likely to tote the bulk of carries. But Hamilton transferred to Eastern Michigan, leaving increased opportunity for Black, Palmer, Vanhorse, Austin Douglas and Rhode Island transfer Lorenzo Bryant Jr. to compete for second-team carries and snaps behind Agyei-Obese.
“In our group, we’re more of a brotherhood because we don’t even think about carries,” Black said. “We know if one of us goes down, then the next one will have to step up and it won’t slack off. Carries, though, that’s up to the coaches, so whatever happens, happens. We understand that and know we’re deep at running back, so the only thing we can control is our play on the field.”
Currently, though, Black is excelling and using his diverse skill set to show his well-rounded ability. He may just force Cignetti to slide him into the second spot on the depth chart.
“I’ve been really impressed with Kaelon,” Cignetti has said a few times this month.
Black has proven he can handle a workload during a game, too, at the college level.
This past spring, in the Dukes’ win at William & Mary, he decimated the Tribe’s defense and gave JMU fans a glimpse of what could come over the next few seasons. Black ran for 141 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries while filling in for Agyei-Obese, who didn’t play in the contest.
William & Mary also offered Black a scholarship earlier in his career, but eventually withdrew interest later on.
“And I am,” a running back who gets better with more carries, Black said. “I like to get in a groove. It starts with that first hit. You get that first hit, shake it off and you’re ready for the next one.”
During the short window between the spring and this training camp ahead of the fall slate, Black concentrated on improving his receiving, which is something he’s worked on since his senior year of high school when Wilson would sometimes use Black in the slot.
“We used him in the backfield for heavy running downs and heavy running formations,” Wilson said, “but in our spread sets we put him the slot to let him run routes, catch the ball and get him used to things he’ll do out of the backfield in the college level.
“His hand-eye coordinator is there and he did a great job for us in that aspect. He was a great back for us and a great receiver, so I really tried to get him to be a complete back. He was pretty good at running the ball already, and then he ended up being a really good receiver.”
Black said his route running now is crisp and believes he can factor into the Dukes’ passing game significantly. He is also eager to impact special teams. Wilson noted Black had a 99-yard return for a touchdown during his Salem career before opponents began kicking the ball away from him.
“Had a lot of offseason work to make sure I could field the ball first before running,” Black said, “because the kicks go way higher than they did in high school. But now it’s slowed down, I can receive it and I’m ready.”