Tag: Kalel Mullings

Broncos assistant coach will take a close look at Senior Bowl running backs

Broncos assistant coach Favian Upshaw will take a close look at Senior Bowl running backs this week, including Cameron Skattebo.

Denver Broncos offensive quality control coach Favian Upshaw is set to coach the National Team running backs at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama this week, the all-star game announced on Saturday.

Upshaw will now get a close look at NT running backs Cameron Skattebo (Arizona State), LeQuint Allen (Syracuse), Donovan Edwards (Michigan), Ollie Gordon (OSU), Jo’quavious Marks (USC), Damien Martinez (Miami), Kalel Mullings (Michigan) and Bhayshul Tuten (Virginia Tech).

With Javonte Williams scheduled to become a free agent in March, the Broncos are expected to target running backs this offseason.

Skattebo (5-11, 216 pounds) is arguably the most notable RB that Upshaw will work with at the Senior Bowl. The 22-year-old senior is projected to be a third-round pick in the NFL draft.

Upshaw played quarterback at Georgia Southern before transitioning to coaching. After initially coaching at the high school level, he spent time at Tulane, Savannah State and Georgia Southern before jumping to the NFL with the Broncos in 2023.

The 2025 Senior Bowl will be played at 2:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. MT) on Saturday, Feb. 1. The game will be televised on NFL Network.

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Michigan football RB Kalel Mullings declares for NFL draft

Thank you for everything, Kalel! #GoBlue

Michigan football got off of a plane on Thursday and took the practice field for the first time in Florida on Friday, but there was a noticeable absence — running back Kalel Mullings was not there, running drills with the other tailbacks.

Mullings, who was the offensive star of the year, had a huge game against rival Ohio State in the 13-10 upset, and it appears as if that was his last hurrah in a winged helmet.

Taking to social media, Mullings announced that he is officially moving on, meaning The Game was his final game. He has officially declared for the NFL draft, forgoing his final eligible appearance.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEGReU2PV2K/?igsh=ZTNtNXlnZ2xzMTZv

Mullings originally came to Ann Arbor in 2020, thought to be the next great Michigan football linebacker. However, as he struggled to see the field, like Hassan Haskins before him, he ultimately switched to the offensive side of the ball, where he ended up thriving.

In 12 games, Mullings finished his final season with the Wolverines with 185 carries for 948 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Why Michigan football running backs love coach Tony Alford

Love this! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was something of a coup for new Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore to wrest Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford away from Columbus. Though the results on the field haven’t exactly matched any of the previous three years offensively, the Wolverines tailbacks are glad to have him.

While players could have some trepidation of the vision the coaches have or what they’re being taught as the maize and blue slinks from an undefeated national championship season to 5-5 through 10 games, senior tailback Kalel Mullings can’t help but sing Alford’s praises. Part of it is the coaching, but also how he’s raising the room up as men and as brothers who want the best for each other.

“It’s great, and it’s been great the entire season,” Mullings said. “Coach Alford is a funny, charismatic guy that’s always expecting the best out of all of us and always pushing for the best out of all of us. But at the same time, he also brings the camaraderie and spirit and joy to the room as well. So it’s been a great balance.”

As can be expected in college football, Alford can be fiery at times, but as Mullings tells it, it’s because he cares. There’s no point when Alford is being stern that his players feel anything other than love, and that makes the room push harder as a result.

“I was actually talking to my dad about this yesterday: Coach Alford genuinely cares for each and every one of us,” Mullings said. “And in college football, honestly, you don’t always see that, but you can feel that with Coach Alford. And like you said, even when he’s ripping into you, even when he’s getting on you, you know it’s coming from a place of love. And it’s because he, like all of us, wants to be the best, and he wants to bring the best out of us.

“So it’s that balance that allows us to go out there and play as hard as we do because we know that coach has our back, and at the same time, he also is expecting the best out of us.”

Michigan is on bye this week but resumes play in Week 13 when it hosts Northwestern for senior day.

Kalel Mullings seems unsure why he was mostly held out vs. Indiana, why his production has dropped off

Interesting, and not in a good way. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It’s almost been a tale of two halves of a season for Michigan football running back Kalel Mullings.

In the early going, outside of Week 2, Mullings was the bell cow, having earned the No. 1 running back spot, and he was excelling. In the first five games, Mullings managed 540 yards, an average of 108 per game. But in the last five games, he’s only amassed 200 yards, an average of just 40 yards per game.

In terms of his production, Mullings doesn’t really have an answer for why he hasn’t been as productive, and why he hasn’t been as heavily utilized as of late.

“That’s a good question. I think the biggest thing is just finding that rhythm,” Mullings said. “I guess I don’t really have an answer, personally. I just attack, go about doing the same things every day, and attack everything with the same process. So, what happens on Saturday is just a byproduct of that and a byproduct of how the team is doing.

“Some days it’s going to be great and it’s going to look great, and some days it’s not always going to look great. So, you just never too high with the highs, never too low with the lows, and just continue to prepare and really hope for the best on Saturday.”

At Indiana, he didn’t start seeing carries until midway through the second quarter, when he only got one rushing attempt. He was utilized much more in the second half, but still only managed 10 carries total for 30 yards.

Head coach Sherrone Moore said that Donovan Edwards and Ben Hall got the early crack at the run game vs. the Hoosiers because they practiced better. But Kalel doesn’t really have an answer, noting he — along with the rest of his teammates — have practiced hard in the leadup to the Week 12 contest.

“I don’t know how to answer that one,” Mullings said. “Banged up, obviously. It’s a long season. Hurting for sure, but not injured. You know, there’s a difference between hurt and injured.

“Obviously, playing on Saturdays and stuff, all of us want to be out there and playing and impacting, but at the same time, I was just focused on cheering on the guys. And hoping for the best. And, just hoping that we get points out every drive, and we make every stop and just waiting for whenever my number got called.”

Michigan is on bye this week but returns to action on Nov. 23 when it hosts Northwestern for the final home game of the 2024 season.

Kalel Mullings on MSU postgame skirmish: ‘I wasn’t stomping on anybody’

Let’s put this to bed now. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy can never seem to end without some extracurricular activities, and such was the case in the 2024 edition.

As the Wolverines were getting up from victory formation, MSU and Michigan football tangled on the field as the clock wound down, but the two teams were separated without much fuss or muss. However, that didn’t stop the Spartan contingent from poring over the TV copy to find some fault on the maize and blue side of the line of scrimmage.

The scapegoat in East Lansing was Michigan running back Kalel Mullings, who was maligned, even by Spartan media, for their perception that he was stomping on someone, purportedly a female staffer. Of course, there has been no evidence of this beyond zoomed-in, grainy video, but MSU media and fans ran with it, even as athletic director Alan Haller’s attempts at seeking punishment for Michigan were rebuffed by the Big Ten.

Mullings, who was at the center, finally addressed the situation on Tuesday evening, weeks later, noting that he heard his name mentioned as some sort of agitator, but more from family than in social media.

“Thankfully, I don’t really pay too much attention to social media,” Mullings said. “I saw my grandma was calling me and stuff, talking about what they’re saying online, and stuff like that. But I was cool throughout the entire thing, because I knew I didn’t do what people were saying I was doing.

“So, I wasn’t stomping on anybody or anything like that so it didn’t really bother me too much. It was really, I would say it was probably bothering the people around me and my family and stuff more than me, because I was just like — it’s whatever. I know I didn’t do it, and I’m not on (social media) that much anyway, so didn’t really bother me.”

So, as Mullings was in the heart of the story, what is his reaction? What does he say he was doing in the middle of the midfield scrum? According to him, nothing close to what was alleged.

“So, obviously, the fight broke out,” Mullings said. “Guys are going everywhere, and we’re just in the crowd. I was just trying to get guys away and break it up.

“So, yeah, that’s really all there was. And I guess people saw that in some angles, yeah.”

Of course, this will tie up things on the Michigan end, but Mullings will live forever as a bad guy — wrongfully or rightfully — in the eyes of the green and white faithful.

Sherrone Moore refutes MSU media narrative on Kalel Mullings in postgame skirmish

This is more in-line with Mullings’ character than what MSU fans are accusing him of. #GoBlue

Michigan State fans often like to talk about ‘the Blue Wall,’ a conspiracy theory they’ve concocted that furthers their own sense of victimhood. ‘The Blue Wall’ is their assertion that everyone is out to protect Michigan football at the expense of MSU.

So, after years of being painted as the bad guy following the assault in the Michigan Stadium tunnel following the 2022 game, the Spartans were all too happy to paint a typical postgame skirmish between two rivals as some kind of dastardly situation concocted by Michigan where the Wolverines were the worst actors.

The MSU media took the matter into its own hands and flat-out named Kalel Mullings as a bad actor who was ‘stomping’ on a Spartan player or staffer. However, upon reviewing the video, the Big Ten did not implicate Mullings or any other Wolverine. And Sherrone Moore told 97.1 The Ticket earlier this week that Michigan’s own internal review indicates Mullings was not only maliciously trying to hurt Spartan players or staffers, but he was actively trying to break up the scuffle.

“We’ve looked at the film, looked at everything, had our discussions internally,” Moore said. “We saw a lot of our guys being positive. I think there’s things out there about Kalel Mullings, he was one of the guys who was trying to be a superhero.

“He was trying to pull everybody apart. I think our guys were doing the right thing.”

It’s difficult to tell what really is the truth, even with cameras there capturing everything in 4K. Even so, against any other team and against any other media apparatus, this incident would be like any other in-game scuffle that you see across the college football season. But now, Mullings’ reputation has been tarnished, even without any substantial evidence that he was doing what MSU fans and media accused him of.

It may be the nature of this rivalry, but it needs to stop.

Michigan football player on Illinois: ‘They’ll punch you in the mouth’

This is a serious game with serious consequences. #GoBlue

In the preseason, it wasn’t expected that Michigan football’s midseason trip to Champaign to face Illinois would be a huge matchup. However, the Illini enter the game 5-1, ranked one spot higher than the Wolverines at No. 21 and will be rededicating Memorial Stadium on the 100th anniversary of a historic game by Red Grange.

In discussing this matchup, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema got choked up, remembering how the Illini nearly pulled off the upset against the maize and blue — though the game ended in the Wolverines’ favor controversially (in the eyes of Illinois).

“The last one was pretty big,” Bielema said. “The reason I just got choked up, you guys know what happened the last time we played. The last one was big, I thought we had a good enough football team to go up there and win. Unfortunately, we didn’t. There was a lot of things that went into it, things we could’ve done better. We didn’t get to rematch those guys last year so we get to rematch them this year.”

This isn’t the type of game where Michigan can just simply line up, run its stuff, and win. The Wolverines are going to have to be much better than they’ve been thus far this season in order to get that fifth win of the season. And thankfully, the players inside the locker room aren’t looking at this one like it’s some lowly team they’ll be playing against.

“I don’t know about what it means necessarily to over there and stuff, in all honesty, but for us, it’s a huge game. It’s a really big game,” running back Kalel Mullings said. “I mean, for me personally, for a lot of guys in the locker room, we go right back to 2022, we know how these guys are. There’s some dogs over there, and there’s some really good players, and they’ll punch you in the mouth, we know that firsthand. So I don’t think anybody’s sitting here, taking it lightly or not even going into the season, just because it’s not a high media game, and, like, the TVs all around, like some other games on the schedule. This was still one of the games that’s like, yo, it’s one of those games, and it’s one you got a buckle your chin strap for.

“So it’s nothing but respect for these guys. And, yeah, I don’t know what’s going on over there, but it’s still nothing but respect for these guys, for sure.”

Of course, the last time the two programs matched up, it was before rivalry week — which, sometimes for Michigan, can end up closer than anticipated. Mullings notes, however, that the last game was more evidence of how good Illinois was compared to Michigan overlooking the Illini. And similarly, this team isn’t overlooking this Illini team, well aware that this game could end up as a loss if they don’t play well.

“Yeah, the game before the Ohio State game, obviously, that’s always a tough game,” Mullings said. “But even then, we knew, there were some dogs. You watch that 2022 Illinois team, and you look at what those guys are doing on Sundays now, and it’s like — we knew, and they still were a field goal away. So we know how Illinois can handle business, and how they can come and play you real tough and real hard and punch you in the mouth. So, we’ve been practicing these past two weeks to ensure that that doesn’t happen.”

Michigan and Illinois will kick off at 3:30 p.m. EDT (2:30 local time) at Memorial Stadium. The game will be nationally broadcast on CBS.

Kalel Mullings diagnoses what Michigan football needs to do offensively

We’ll know more of what the offense is capable of this week. #GoBlue

Michigan football is halfway through the 2024 season and is looking for answers on both sides of the ball. But the more alarming side is on offense, where there’s been next to no passing game all season.

Enter Jack Tuttle, the seventh-year man who is healthy for the first time this year. He entered in the second quarter against Washington and immediately engineered three straight scoring drives — the first time we’ve seen that type of consistent play on offense all season long. Though drives stagnated after that and turnovers reared their ugly head, once again, suddenly Tuttle’s insertion gives the Wolverines some hope that they can pull things together for what looks to be a brutal stretch in the final six games of the season.

With Tuttle looking to start for the maize and blue for the first time after transferring from Indiana prior to the 2023 season, running back Kalel Mullings shared what the offense needs to do now that Tuttle will be leading the charge.

“The second half of the Washington game, we were able to move the ball for a little bit but we still need to find ways to continue to be consistent,” Mullings said. “That’s, in my opinion, that’s one of our biggest problems, is just sustaining drives. We were able to do that for spurts but when push came to shove, there was still some stagnant time. So still attacking it, still trying to improve that in order to be the best we can be.”

But why has Michigan been inconsistent? What has been the issue that’s led to so many stalled drives?

Mullings says that the offense isn’t doing enough on the early downs to give the team a chance on third down. He feels like if they can have more success on first and second down that the Wolverines will have a better opportunity to sustain drives.

“In my opinion, I feel like it’s winning second down — winning first and second down,” Mullings said. ” I feel like if we can get it to third-and-short, knowing Coach Moore will probably go for it on fourth if we don’t get it. So as long as we can just find ways to win first and second down and get to that third-and-short, then we’ll be able to just sustain drives, get that third-and-short, get the first down and keep it rolling.”

Of course, if the passing game takes off, that would mean less carries for Mullings and the tailbacks. However, that’s a sacrifice that Mullings is eagerly willing to make so long as it works.

Because Michigan needs to find ways to move the ball through the air — at least enough to keep defenses honest.

“Obviously, that’s our identity. A huge part of our identity is running the ball,” Mullings said. “But football is football, we got to be able to do everything. And as backs, as football players, we just look to do our jobs. And we can’t really help what defense we’re playing against. We’re just trying to do the best we can. But definitely finding more consistency through throwing the ball will definitely pay off in the throwing game, in the run game as well.

“So it’s great to always be able to run the ball and have that ball and have that, but the same time, it’s also nice to have a bit of both, and be able to open things up, take the roof off the defense every once in a while. They’re gonna have their safeties down, have their linebackers running up.”

Michigan football offensive players aware the play isn’t up to snuff right now

It has to be better going forward. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The past two weeks, Michigan football has done just enough in order to win, all with some help from the other phases in the game.

The USC game in Week 4 was huge, but with a 2-2 Minnesota team coming to town and nearly pulling off the upset, the Wolverines and their fans are left scratching their heads.

Though the offense wasn’t lighting things up in the first half, it was good enough, driving the field early in the game to score a touchdown and capitalizing off of the Gophers’ mistakes. But in the second half, it looked much like it did in Week 4, with three-and-out after three-and-out. And despite attempting to throw more downfield with Colston Loveland back in the lineup, it really didn’t look much better for quarterback Alex Orji in his second start.

But if you think he’s going to deflect or not take accountability for his shortcomings, you’ve got another thing coming.

“All we work for throughout the week is just trying to get a win. And so we came out here on a Saturday, Big Ten play, and accomplished our No. 1 goal,” Orji said after the game. “I think that we all know that the end of the game, especially the second half, wasn’t up to the standard the Michigan football has set in passing through previous games. So we just got to find a way to put together a four-quarter game and just build on the things that we that we put on tape.”

Mullings had a decent day, all things considered, managing to rush for 111 yards on 24 carries, with two touchdowns. But even with him, there were a lot of moments where he was getting only small gains, rushing into loaded boxes.

In his first career start on the offensive side of the ball (he has started a game at linebacker), Mullings echoes Orji in his estimation that there’s some killer instinct missing from this team at the moment and that they need to find ways to be better, extend drives and be more complementary to the defense. Noting it was a tale of two halves, the offense still has a lot of work to do in order to hold up its end of the bargain, Mullings says.

“Just piggybacking off of Orj, we just have to find a way to be able to strain in that second half and strain to finish teams like Orj said,” Mullings said. “Strain to play a four-quarter game and complete the game. It felt like we were rolling pretty good in that first half and really let them back into it. And got lucky with some things at the end of the game, too. So we just have to strain to be better and to execute for all four quarters.”

There is still a lot wrong beyond just the quarterback in terms of the pass game, given that the receivers and pass protection isn’t doing many favors. But the Wolverines have a good chance to right the wrongs of this week when it travels to Seattle to take on a Washington team that’s struggling — albeit not in pass defense, where it’s No. 13 in the nation.

Kalel Mullings taking over as Michigan’s top RB prospect

Kalel Mullings taking over from Donovan Edwards as Michigan’s top RB prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft

Entering the season, Donovan Edwards was expected to shoulder the load as Michigan’s top running back. His strong finish to the 2023 season, running all over Washington in the national championship game, had draft analysts buzzing about what Edwards could do in 2024 in Ann Arbor.

Yet after four weeks, Edwards has taken a definitive back seat to heretofore unheralded Kalel Mullings. Listed and used as a fullback after converting from linebacker following the 2021 season, the 233-pound Mullings carried the ball just 50 times in his first two seasons on offense–nearly all of that in garbage time.

Now, the senior has 32 carries in the last two weeks, netting 312 yards and four touchdowns. Edwards gained 156 on 31 carries in those same two games. It’s been Mullings who gets the call early, with his sledgehammer style and great balance through contact helping Michigan establish the power game. It’s also put Mullings firmly on the draft radar as a runner.

Edwards is still finding success in the more limited role. He scored touchdowns against both USC and Minnesota, showing some great balance and burst into the open against the Golden Gophers. His initial burst in the backfield and decisiveness in attacking the hole has held him back, and that won’t help Edwards in the eyes of NFL evaluators. A couple of really bad reps in pass protection against Fresno State won’t help Edwards see more action, either.

Edwards still shows enough promise to keep evaluating, but the visions of No. 7 emerging as a top-100 talent seem long gone.