Liberty football is currently in the midst of spring practice as the Flames will go through 15 practices over the course of several weeks. With only one transfer portal window which closed following the conclusion of the 2025 season, Liberty knows its roster it will have for the upcoming 2026 season. As the team goes through its spring practice sessions, we are going to begin a new series over the next couple of weeks where we break down each position on the roster. We continue today with a look at the running back position.
Previous
Quarterbacks
Running backs
A-Back
0 Jaylon Coleman, 5’9″, 155 lb
29 Justin Marshall, 5’10”, 190 lb (Colorado State)
26 Jaylin Belford, 5’8″, 175 lb
B-Back
4 Kam Davis, 5’10”, 224 lb (Florida State)
6 Kayne Udoh, 6’1″, 220 lb (Arizona State)
7 Peyton Jones, 5’10”, 195 lb (Duke)
11 Terron Kellman, 5’8″, 210 lb (Wyoming)
23 Cam Wood, 5’8″, 195 lb
Under head coach Jamey Chadwell, Liberty has always had a potent rushing attack and a talented group of running backs. The first couple of years it was dominated by Quinton Cooley and Billy Lucas before Evan Dickens took over last season. After the 2025 season, virtually the entire running back room went into the portal. In addition to Dickens, Caden Williams, Vaughn Blue, and Malachi Fannin-Render bolted. Juju Gray will also not return after his eligibility expired. The only returning running back with any significant playing experience is rising sophomore Jaylon Coleman.
Coleman, who plays the A-Back or pitch back, in Liberty’s two-running back system, had a big impact late in the season as he stepped in when Juju Gray had some injury issues. Coleman ended up playing in 7 games as a true freshman, finishing the year with 11 rushes for 79 yards and 10 receptions for 100 yards. With Gray gone and no other running back with experience, the Flames are hopeful Coleman can take the next step forward and be a leader in the room.
“J-Cole is a dude,” said Liberty offensive coordinator and running backs coach Newland Isaac. “The only thing he needed to do was gain weight. He checked every box for us in the recruiting process. You knew what y ou were going to have in him. The one thing you didn’t know throughout the recruiting process is how tough and physical he was. He walked in here 150 pounds, but he will go in there and throw his body on the line on an iso block, throw a defensive end on a split zone, and you’re just like, ‘Wow.’ He’s got the right makeup. He’s got the right mindset. He has the right skillset. He checks all of those boxes for you. The one challenge was gain weight, that’s all you got to do. You get him to the weight that you need him to be, there’s no reason (he) should ever come off the field.”
Justin Marshall is the other true A-Back that is competing for playing time on the field this season. Marshall rushed for 1,006 yards and 5 touchdowns over the past 2 seasons at Colorado State. He played 3 seasons for the Rams. The 5’10, 180-pound back is from Merrillville, Indiana. He played in 26 games for the Rams, finishing with 1,317 yards and 7 touchdowns to go along with 18 receptions for 159 yards. He had a pair of 100-yard rushing performances in 2024, including 106 yards in the season opener at Texas.
Kam Davis played the past two seasons with the Seminoles, including a redshirt campaign, and has three years of eligibility remaining. As a freshman in 2024, Davis had 52 rushed for 173 yards, finishing second on the team while adding two receptions for 21 yards. He had a season-high 14 rushed for 63 yards in a game at Duke, while playing in nine games. Last season, Davis ran 8 times for 51 yards and one touchdown over four games and maintained his redshirt. Coming out of high school, Davis was a consensus four-star prospect. He was ranked as the No. 3 running back prospect in the country and No. 8 overall prospect from Georgia by Rivals. From Dougherty High School in Albany, Georgia, Davis played quarterback and accounted for 8,762 yards of total offense and 75 touchdowns during his career.
Kayne Udoh began his collegiate career at Army. As a freshman in 2023, he was second-team Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent Team, finishing with 5 starts in 10 games played for 524 yards on 99 carries with 1 touchdown. In 2024, he racked up 1,117 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 6.2 yards per carry and leading Army to a 12-2 record, going 8-0 in the AAC. Udoh then transferred to Arizona State for the 2025 season where he rushed 56 times for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has one season of eligibility remaining.
Peyton Jones can play both running back positions, but is more traditionally a B-Back. Last season, he played in four games with 10 rushed for 34 yards and 1 touchdown at Duke. He also caught three passes for 23 yards and returned four kickoffs for 87 yards. In 2024, Jones played in all 13 games with 82 rushed for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns, finishing second on the team in rushing. He also added 8 catches for 94 yards and one score and returned 18 kickoffs for 382 yards. Over his time at Duke, Jones played in 30 career games with one start, rushing 112 times for 422 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also has 11 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. Jones was a three-star recruit out of Maury High School where he was listed as the No. 46 athlete in the country and No. 22 prospect in Virginia.
Terron Kellman rushed for 901 yards and 5 touchdowns in three seasons while playing for Northern Illinois, Charlotte, and Wyoming. He is a 5’8”, 210-pound back who spent one season at Northern Illinois where he redshirted. In 2 seasons at Charlotte, Kellman 570 rushing yards on 130 attempts with 1 touchdown in 17 games. At Wyoming last season, he rushed 65 times for 331 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Cam Wood is an incoming true freshman from Carrollton High School and Carrollton, Georgia. As a senior this past season, Wood had 157 carries for 1,362 yards (8.7 ypc) and 31 touchdowns in 13 games played. He also added 20 receptions for 214 yards and a score.
There will be a lot of competition in the running back room this spring between several guys who think they can earn playing time on the field. Several of these backs are experienced and have had success at their previous stops. Based on Liberty’s track record the past three seasons under Chadwell at running back, it can be expected that at least one or two of these backs will emerge and be able to help carry the load this fall.
Chadwell Quote
“Typically when you lose a decent amount of production, you have a freshman or redshirt freshman that’s been in your program that can bump up. Obviously, he left too. It is brand new. This will be a first for us when we’ve lost so many and not had anything left that has been there. There’s an exciting time for that, as well. They have all spring to learn. They get to make their name for themselves. There’s a positive in that. You hope you don’t have to do that all the time, but that’s the world we’re in. If I’m a running back across this country though, this is a place I’d want to come because you get an opportunity to really showcase what you’re about. Our last couple ones have done really, really well.”
