Study: What Are RB Kaleb Johnson’s Best Stats?

On the heels of the 2025 NFL draft, I wanted to look at and provide some of new Steelers RB Kaleb Johnson’s best stats from the 2024 college football season. The goal is to see what the Pittsburgh Steelers could be acquiring if all goes well. For context, I will include drafted RBs with a minimum of 100 carries in the 2024 regular season (23 qualifiers).

First, let’s look at yardage production. Here are rushing yards, along with rushing yards per attempt in 2024:

Johnson had 1,535 rushing yards for Iowa in the 2024 regular season, fourth-best among qualifiers. He was also comfortably above the mean on 6.4 yards per attempt, which ranked sixth. Lands lower, but Johnson’s 240 attempts were the seventh-most, and had the fourth-best yards per attempt of players with above the mean total rushing yards.

So, clearly, some quality and quantity are revealed in the initial view.

Here’s some added context, viewing yards after contact per attempt and breakaway percentage (rate of 15-plus runs):

Jumping out right away is Johnson’s 56.1 breakaway percent, the best rate among qualifiers. Our Dave Bryan illustrated this prowess in an explosive play runs contextualization, furthering an enticing potential that Pittsburgh hopes they acquired, and frankly, needs more of than recent seasons overall.

Johnson also had an impressive 4.42 yards after contact per attempt, ranking second among his peers. His rather impressive balance with the ball in his hands, fighting for extra yards—that’s a familiar sight in Pittsburgh—and, of course, explosiveness.

In the study, Johnson ranked in the top ten in every stat (comfortably). Here’s a breakdown (23 qualifiers): attempts (seventh), yards (fourth), yards per attempt (sixth), yards after contact (second), breakaway percent (first).

Johnson’s 2024 season was a great addition to his resume at Iowa, which is hopefully a stepping stone for the next chapter, looking similar in the Black and Gold that he’s already donned so well.