JMU RB Black Wants To Grow Skillset Heading Into 2023 Season

Aug 4, 2023 Updated Aug 4, 2023
When James Madison running back Kaelon Black gets back to his dorm room after practice, he’ll pull up YouTube highlight clips of New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson.
Black, like Barkley and Robinson, is just under 6-feet tall, but he wants to grow his game in the backfield. Black’s been known to be the Dukes’ “shifty” running back, but as the season approaches, he wants to pull from those two backs, both of which were stars at the college level.
The Virginia Beach native isn’t trying to reinvent himself in the backfield, rather Black wants to become a more versatile back at JMU. He can move around tacklers, but now he wants to be able to barrel through them.
Oh, and he wants to be a receiving back, too. Or as he put it, “I just want to be able to be a wide receiver and a running back.”
Route running and pass catching are at the top of his list to improve on during fall camp before the Dukes begin their second season in the Sun Belt Conference. For Black, that means not only drawing from Barkley and Robinson, but also his own teammates, too.
Solomon Vanhorse has been the Dukes’ go-to receiving back for years, so in spring practice and now in fall camp, Black has picked Vanhorse’s brain to improve as a receiver out of the backfield.
“I’m always asking [Vanhorse] questions in our free time and even in the last camp I was asking him questions on how you do certain things,” Black said. “Those are things that I’m going to implement into my game.”
The bulldozing portion of improvement could be drawn from JMU senior Latrele Palmer, a big-bodied back who is capable of running through almost any defender in front of him.
So as Black thought about how he wants to improve his game overall, the depth of JMU’s running backs room stuck out.
In addition to Black, Palmer and Vanhorse, JMU signed Stony Brook transfer Ty Son Lawton in the winter to replace Percy Agyei-Obese, whose eligibility expired at the end of the 2022 campaign.
JMU’s depth in the position group is seen as an advantage, but Black noted that the offense might lean on the running backs at times with a new quarterback under center and a new-look wide receiving corps.
“I feel like we’re very focused and very determined,” Black said of JMU’s running backs. “We know that we’re going to have a lot to fill and we’re going to make sure that we stay on top of our game each and every week — whether that’s pass catching, pass protection, running the ball, making the right reads.”
Black wasn’t shy to note that JMU is playing “some better teams this year, so we have to make sure that we’re on top of our stuff.”
The Dukes have a three-game road trip early in the season, which is highlighted by an in-state matchup at Virginia and a de-facto Sun Belt title game from a year ago at Troy.
But for Black, if adversity comes his way again this fall, he knows he’ll be ready.
In the 2021 season, Black tore his ACL at Weber State, which cut his sophomore campaign short. After working his way back onto the field for the Dukes’ inaugural FBS season, Black broke his finger, which sidelined him for two games.
Black said he knew he could be resilient after his ACL recovery, but being humble was key to his return from an unlucky broken finger that JMU was cautious in his return with so he didn’t risk reinjuring it.
“I had a sense [I could do it], but when it keeps coming back, you kind of forget and that remotivates you each and every time something happens,” Black said. “I’ll just be humble and put my faith in the Lord.”
While he’s battled adversity for much of his collegiate career, Black’s talent in the backfield has shined when given the opportunity.
In 14 career games, Black has rushed for 668 yards and four touchdowns, while has annotated 232 yards off receptions and two touchdowns — both of which came last fall.
As Black continues to elevate his game and become more of a receiving back — 177 receiving yards last season — the harder it could be to keep him off the field.
But with a deep running backs room, the Dukes have options. And like last fall, JMU could ride the hot hand in each game.
As Black gets set for his redshirt sophomore season in Harrisonburg, evolving his game is one way he’ll continue to make an impact on the field.
Another, is leaning on what’s helped him through his two injuries at JMU: his faith.
“You just gotta get back up and pray to the Lord,” Black said. “That’s my Lord and Savior, so I’m going to just keep doing what I do and put my faith on.”