Revamped Indiana Running Back Room Shows Depth, Versatility in Spring Game

Indiana’s spring game suggested Curt Cignetti won’t rely on one featured running back this fall.

Indiana’s roster went through a major overhaul this offseason after Cignetti replaced former head coach Tom Allen, and no position group looks more different than the running back room. Indiana’s leading rusher from 2023, Trent Howland, is transferring to Oklahoma State. And all other Hoosiers who ran the ball last year – Jaylin Lucas, Josh Henderson, Christian Turner and David Holloman – are gone, too. 

That means all running backs under scholarship on Indiana’s 2024 roster are newcomers. Along with Ellison, a transfer from Wake Forest, Cignetti brought two backs with him from James Madison – Kaelon Black and Ty Son Lawton – and added North Carolina transfer Elijah Green. 

In the spring game, Black led the group with four carries for 38 yards, including a 24-yard run on his first attempt, good for 9.5 yards per carry. Lawton had perhaps the most impressive moment of the night, a powerful 13-yard touchdown run where he shed multiple tackles. He finished with four carries for 23 yards, followed by Green with seven carries for 22 yards and Ellison with five carries for 13 yards and a two-yard touchdown up the middle. Ellison, Black and Green were also utilized in the pass game.

“I think that group definitely caught my eye,” Cignetti said after the spring game. “I just think our running back room is faster, more dynamic, good at pass pro, good at catching the ball out of the backfield, can break tackles. We have more speed and athleticism back there. All three of those guys just love football. They're football nuts. Tough guys. They're tough guys.”

The group is coached by John Miller, who came with Cignetti from James Madison. Miller played running back, wide receiver and punt returner at James Madison from 2014-17 and was named 2017 Colonial Athletic Association Special Teams Player of the Year. He spent the 2018 season as an offensive graduate assistant at James Madison under former head coach Mike Houston, then two seasons at Texas as an offensive quality control coach before returning to James Madison as the running backs coach under Cignetti from 2021 to 2023.

Miller was Black’s position coach for three seasons at James Madison. Black said Miller challenges his running backs to understand all details of the offense, such as the responsibilities of the wide receivers and offensive linemen. 

“He’s a great guy, very funny, very chill at the same time,” Black said. “He relates to us really well since he just finished playing not too long ago, and he’s definitely a great mentor. That’s somebody you look up to as far as being a football player and being a man.”

When recruiting the transfer portal, Cignetti said he looked for production over potential. All four running backs fit that description.

Black, listed at 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds, and Lawton, a similar build at 5-foot-10 and 207 pounds, played key roles in James Madison’s 11-2 run during the 2023 season. They formed a balanced attack, with Black running the ball 142 times for 637 yards and a touchdown and Lawton taking 126 carries for 568 yards and five scores. They’re proven pass-catchers too, as Black hauled in 27 passes for 254 yards and four touchdowns, followed by Lawton with 19 receptions for 174 yards and a score. 

Black said he’s trying to take on more of a leadership role this season compared to his time at James Madison. He’s stepped up and talked to the team during practice, and he’s promoted camaraderie by bonding with teammates off the field.

“When you’re in a new place, you have to make sure people feel you and people know where you’re coming from,” Black said. “...With our coaching staff, the help of them, just bringing winning traditions and winning ways, just trying to filter out last season and just bring in a new Indiana.”

At 5-foot-10 and 211 pounds, Ellison totaled 427 carries for 1,901 yards (4.5 ypc) and 15 touchdowns across four seasons at Waker Forest. He was used less as a pass-catcher than Black and Lawton, but he still hauled in 24 receptions for 163 yards and one touchdown. He was named third-team All-ACC in 2022.

Ellison stayed healthy and played in at least 11 games in each of his final seasons, another trait Cignetti looked for in the transfer portal. And when he considered the options for his final season of eligibility, things clicked with Cignetti and the staff immediately. 

He was attracted to Cignetti’s passionate approach to football, and he saw the vision his new coach laid out for the transformation of Indiana football. Ellison was the first of 23 transfers to commit to Indiana in the offseason. He was so eager to begin his career as a Hoosier that he said he showed up more than a week before the other incoming transfers.

Ellison was originally recruited to James Madison by offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan as a wide receiver, but he chose to play running back at Wake Forest. Now that he’s reunited with Shanahan, Ellison said it almost feels like a family.

“When I hit the portal, it was like a no-brainer for me,” Ellison said. “I came here and once the offense was opened up to me, I was like, ‘This is going to be an opportunity for me to really showcase what I can really do.’”

“Being in this system, being a part Bloomington, I was like, ‘Man, this is the best feeling ever.’”

Ellison described himself as a downhill runner that can make guys miss, but his background as a receiver also makes him an option in the pass game. Black and Lawton showed they can do both at James Madison. Add Green, who ran the ball 131 times for 558 yards and eight touchdowns at North Carolina in 2022, and Indiana has a deep, versatile running back room despite losing all of its production from a year ago.

In line with Cignetti’s mission, the transfer running backs are hoping to reverse the trend of three straight losing seasons in Bloomington.

“We’re desperate for wins here. We’re very desperate,” Ellison said. “You can feel it when we’re in the locker room. You can completely feel it, and I know that the fans are desperate for wins too.”

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