Depth, Versatility Define Kent State’s Running Back Room Through Fall Camp
8/20/2026 8:22:00 PM | Football
KENT, Ohio — First-year running backs coach Braxton Chapman has spent his opening fall camp at Kent State building a room he believes can handle whatever the offense asks of it, and he's doing so close to home in the process.
"Super excited to be here at Kent State, just loving everything that Coach Carney and his team built last year," Chapman said. "Being pretty local, having a lot of Western Pennsylvania ties, Ohio ties, just excited to be home and back in the area. Throughout these first fall camp practices, man, I've been super pleased with the running back group: Mason King, Jakorion Caffey, Brandon White, Donovan Delaney, Ayden Harris, and the two young guys, Cade Romanini and Jackson Farley. I think our mindset and our message have been, every day, about trying to get 1% better, and I think the guys have been able to do that. It's going to give us a chance to play our best football come this fall."
With the bulk of last season's production gone, Chapman said the room enters the year without a clear-cut lead back, opening the door for competition across the depth chart. Mason King, the most experienced player in the room, has taken advantage of that opportunity early in camp.
"Mason's looking good; he's been having a pretty good fall camp," Chapman said. "But from the message from day one since I got here, it's going to take all of us, right? We're going to be a group by committee, and at some point in time, everybody's going to be ready to play for us to play our best football."
Beyond King, Chapman pointed to true freshman Brandon White and pass-protection specialist Donovan Delaney as players who have stood out through the opening weeks of camp.
"Mason King has had a really strong camp, Brandon White's been doing some good things, especially as a true freshman," Chapman said. "Donovan Delaney has been doing a great job in pass pro and things like that for us. Even as a group, I think that from practice one to where we are now, it's good to turn on the tape and see the growth, starting to get better at the smaller things. We just got to continue to refine all of our details so we can play our best football."
Chapman said the group's versatility across every phase of the offense is its greatest strength heading into the season.
"We have guys who can do a lot of different things, guys who are good running the ball, good in protection, and also good catching the football," Chapman said. "It's going to allow us to be a threat at every level for our offense."
For Chapman, a successful camp comes down to one simple standard applied every day.
"Our job and our focus every day we go into the room is how can we get better," Chapman said. "Whatever we've got to do offensively to help us, whether it's carrying the ball as a group 50 times, protecting 50 times, whatever, being great on special teams, whatever we have to do as a running back group to help our offense win games, that's what we're about. That's our mindset, that's our mentality."
King, in his first season at Kent State after limited playing time over the past two years, said he's eager for the chance to compete again at a high level in the MAC.
"I'm very excited, it's a great opportunity for me," King said. "The last two years I've been limited in playing, but just grateful to be back where I'm able to put my best foot forward and compete again at a high level."
As the room's most experienced player, King said he's leaned on a simple message for his teammates as camp has progressed.
"I just say stay consistent with your craft, you know yourself better than anybody else," King said. "Just go out there and have fun. I feel like a lot of us tend to think too much about what could go wrong or everything that's uncontrollable. So I just tell them to control what you can control and have fun."
King described a running back room built on chemistry and shared investment in each other's success.
"I feel like all of us have stuck out in many different ways," King said. "I love this group, we are all connected, we play for one another, and we have each other's backs. We feed off each other's energy. I would say all of us are very excited for the season."
Like his coach, King said staying healthy through the final stretch of camp is the group's top priority.
"A successful camp is getting out healthy," King said. "Getting out healthy so we can all go into game one ready to go."
The Golden Flashes open the 2026 season on the road at South Carolina, on September 5, at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Season tickets for the 2026 season are available now at KSUtix.com.
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