Name: Kalel Mullings
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 233 lbs.
High school: West Roxbury (MA) Milton Academy
Position: Running back
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #20
Last year: I ranked Mullings #38 and said he would be a backup running back (LINK). He had
TTB Rating: 78
Mullings was a linebacker at Michigan for his first two-plus years on campus. But in year three, Blake Corum suffered an injury against Illinois, and Michigan needed someone to help take the load in the backfield. So Mullings – a standout high school running back – threw a jump pass against Ohio State in 2022 and gained 31 yards on 14 carries, including scoring 3 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he fumbled on a goal line attempt against TCU in the College Football Playoff, and Michigan ended up losing by six points.
Instead of reverting to linebacker for 2023, Mullings stayed on offense to compete with Donovan Edwards for the backup position. At one point during the season, Mullings had earned the #2 spot and did some good things with it. He had a ho-hum non-conference performance (4 carries, 17 yards) to start the year, but he picked it up during the Big Ten slate and never averaged fewer than 5.0 yards per carry. Altogether, he ran 36 times for 222 yards (6.2 yards/carry) and 1 touchdown, a 20-yard scamper against Nebraska. Despite playing the season at 239 pounds, he showed nimble feet, good patience, and a decent burst.
The 2024 season should be another big step in his career now that Corum is off to the Los Angeles Rams. Edwards and Mullings are the #1 and #2 backs, and while Edwards is the favorite to win the job (after all, he was on the cover of NCAA ’25), Mullings can make a case to be the Thunder to Edwards’s Lightning. Edwards has struggled at times and has also been injured a little bit. Over the past three years of post-COVID Michigan football, the #2 back for Michigan has averaged 813 yards per season, including 950+ yards from both Corum (2021) and Edwards (2022). I don’t know that Mullings will approach 1,000 yards like those two, but he should have a pretty hefty rushing total by the end of the year while also serving as a short yardage and goal line back at times.
Prediction: Backup running back; 750 yards and 9 touchdowns
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