1,000-Yard Runner for National Champs To Have NFL Draft Visit With Packers

Kaelon Black went from backup running back to national championship running back, to finance to getting ready to embark on an NFL career.

It’s been quite a few months for Black, whose path to the draft will include a predraft visit with the Green Bay Packers, according to Gery Woelfel.

Black rushed for 1,040 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025 to help Indiana roll to an improbable national championship.

“That you're resilient, man,” he said at pro day of what he learned along the way. “And you just always believe in God and keep Him first in everything. And I just feel like throughout the process it's been very busy. Going from the national championship to the Senior Bowl to training, it's just taught me a lot about myself and being always humble and never taking things for granted and just thanking God your body's good through it all.”

Black, who for some reason was not invited to the Scouting Combine, measured 5-foot-9 3/4 and 211 pounds at pro day. He does not have enough testing numbers for a Relative Athletic Score, though The Athletic’s Dane Brugler reported he ran his 40 in 4.45 seconds at pro day.

https://x.com/IndianaFootball/status/2039496027640574330

“I hope it did well for me,” he said. “Just it's all in God's hands at this point. I'm just ready to go out there and ball and show it to all the teams what I could do.”

The testing results should have been no surprise. He was part of Bruce Feldman’s coveted Freaks List.

“He’s our biggest Freak for sure,” defensive lineman Mikail Kamara via On3. “When he lifts, everything moves so fast. He’s ridiculous. I’ve never seen him struggle [in the weight room]. I saw him bench press 415 the other day, and it was butter. It touched his chest and went right back up. It looked like a warmup set. And he’s hella fast.”

Packers Have Questions at Running Back

The Packers have a need at running back. Josh Jacobs will lead the depth chart for a third consecutive season, but Emanuel Wilson signed with Seattle in free agency and MarShawn Lloyd has managed to play in only one game in two seasons.

“We’re certainly going to add competition to that room,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said last week at the owners meetings. “But I like whether it’s MarShawn, as we get him healthy and get him going, Pierre Strong’s there. There’s guys we really like, but I’m sure there will be more competition to come.”

Indiana's Kaelon Black (8) runs during the College Football Playoff National Championship game against Miami. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Black started his career at James Madison, where he rushed for 970 yards during two seasons, before following coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana for his final two seasons.

After a quiet 2024 season for the Hoosiers, he had a breakout final season that included 99 yards and one touchdown in the Rose Bowl against Alabama, 63 yards and two touchdowns in the Peach Bowl against Oregon and 79 yards in the championship game against Miami.

Black caught only eight passes during two seasons with Indiana but did catch 27 passes or 254 yards and four touchdowns for James Madison in 2023.

In 2025, Black averaged 5.6 yards per carry. Of that, 3.47 came after contact, according to Pro Football Focus.

While NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein called him a “grinder with below-average third-down value,” PFF has him ranked No. 187 overall. He’s No. 181 on the Consensus Big Board.

“I Can Do It All”

PFF charged Black with two pressures allowed in 48 pass-protecting snaps last season.

“I feel like I can do it all – pass protect, catch the ball and run the ball,” he said at pro day. “I hope I showed that today.”

Not long after winning the national championship, Black was in Mobile, Ala., for the Senior Bowl.

“I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity,” Black told reporters at the time. “Being able to show the scouts what I can do immediately after something like a national championship. My body felt pretty good afterwards, and I just wanted to show the scouts what I could do.”

Black, indeed, showed what he could do. He was one of 10 standouts from the week, according to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah.

“I was surprised Black decided to participate in the Senior Bowl considering he had helped Indiana win its first ever national championship just a week earlier,” he wrote. “The decision speaks to his competitiveness and won’t go unnoticed by NFL teams. And somehow, he didn’t look like a guy who had just wrapped up a 16-game season. Everything he did was full speed.”

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Black.

“Starting off my freshman year [in 2020], I was faced with a heart condition that sidelined me for a month. There was a lot of uncertainty at that time,” Black said via 13 News Now in 2023. The following season, he suffered a torn ACL, an injury he called “heartbreaking.”

But he persevered, setting up his big season for the Hoosiers.

“He was a great coachable kid who worked extra-hard in the weight room and in the classroom,” his high school coach, Shawn Wilson, told PilotOnline.com. “He pushed himself in the weight room and dedicated himself to lifting. That’s rare for a high school kid. A lot of times, they’re scared of those weights and don’t want to lift. And he worked hard on the field. He didn’t complain.

“He’s just one of those old-school players where if your mama tells you to keep your mouth closed, you keep it closed. And that was him.”

Black learned how to be a pro under Cignetti’s focused approach

“Whether that's cooking, vacuuming, cleaning up the house, those certain things that you have that certain mindset from football that you learned from him,” Black said via SI.com. “It just kind of translates to your everyday life.”

Packers Predraft Visits

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER