After breakout 2025 season, Northwestern RB Caleb Komolafe eager to get going in Chip Kelly’s offense
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The question was posed a couple of times to Caleb Komolafe as the Northwestern running back sat at a table in the middle of a bustling ballroom Thursday afternoon at the Hilton Chicago.
Komolafe had a breakout season for the Wildcats in 2025, rushing for 941 yards and 11 touchdowns on 190 carries. In the transfer portal era, such a season could have come with opportunities elsewhere. So why, he was asked during Big Ten football media days, did he stay at Northwestern?
“The brotherhood that I have in the locker room, the relationships I built, and then Coach (David) Braun and the staff,” Komolafe said. “Coach Braun is a great leader. I love my coach, Coach (Aristotle) Thompson. I feel like I’ve grown a lot in my game from just having him as a position coach.
“And then he hired Chip Kelly.”
Komolafe was sitting in his dining room at home when Braun called him over the winter to let him know Northwestern was bringing in Kelly, the longtime college and NFL coach, to be offensive coordinator. Komolafe looked at his phone afterward and saw a flood of missed messages from his friends.
“It was a surreal feeling,” Komolafe said. “Chip Kelly? Like, it’s crazy.”
Now Braun hopes Komolafe can take the “next step” in the new Northwestern offense designed by Kelly, whom Komolafe called “a mastermind.”
In 2024, Komolafe ran for only 139 yards in 10 games as a second-year player. But he took over as the starter in 2025 after lead running back Cam Porter tore his ACL in the second game.
As he built momentum, Komolafe put together four 100-yard games and finished with 5 yards per carry. He said he grew in his decisiveness over the course of the season.
“Early on, I was just trying to not make a mistake and do things the right way,” he said. “But once I understood, OK, this is the flow of the game, I kind of let loose a little bit.”
Braun said Komolafe’s breakthrough also was about consistency and a mindset that he would work to become an All-Big Ten back.
“The consistency he showed in his pre-practice routine, recovery efforts, studying the nuances of the playbook,” Braun said. “Even at times during the beginning of last year, you could tell there was a sense of frustration that it wasn’t all coming together right away.
“But to see the way it came together in the second half of the season is a credit to his discipline and consistency, not in just what he was doing on the practice field, but what he was doing 24/7 around the clock to position himself to really operate like an All-Big Ten back that has aspirations to play in football for a long time.”
As Komolafe looks to expand his impact in his fourth season in Evanston, he has a list of things he’s working on: being better in the passing game, including protection; understanding his read keys and how the defense can flow after a play starts; and expanding his view presnap.
He’s trying to absorb what he can from Kelly too.
“It’s been really awesome to get tips from him and a better understanding of the game,” Komolafe said. “Really try to pick his brain to understand and be the best player that I could be.”
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Braun said a running back room that also includes Joseph Himon II and Gavin Sawchuk could be a strength this season. Himon, a speed option, rushed for 486 yards last season for the Wildcats.
Sawchuk, whose versatility will be an asset, rushed for 486 yards and eight touchdowns at Florida State last season. He began his career at Oklahoma and had a 744-yard season in 2023.
Braun said it will take more than one of those players to thrive in the Big Ten. And Komolafe said Thompson preaches the mindset that they will “support the room” and cheer for whichever player is getting the carries.
“We’re a strong room,” Komolafe said. “Coach Thompson, he does a good job of making sure everybody is uplifted in our room. Everybody has an understanding that we’re all guys that can go out there and play and dominate if need be.”
Kelly — “arguably the best offensive coordinator in all of college football history,” Braun said Wednesday — is tasked with bringing to life a Northwestern offense that has struggled.
Behind quarterback Preston Stone in 2025, Northwestern had the No. 96 offense in the FBS with 346.1 yards and 23.4 points per game. The Wildcats averaged 160.2 rushing yards, which ranked 65th.
This offseason, Northwestern added quarterback Aidan Chiles, who transferred from Michigan State after starting eight games there in 2025 and 12 in 2024. The Wildcats retained backup quarterback Ryan Boe, and West Virginia quarterback Nicco Marchiol also transferred in after starting four games for the Mountaineers in 2025 before suffering a season-ending foot injury.
Chiles may be the presumptive starter, but Braun declined to name him the starter Thursday, saying they would let the development and competition play out in camp and that “ultimately there’s still work to be done.”
The Wildcats have a little more than a month to pull it all together before their opener Sept. 5 against South Dakota State.
Photos: Work continues at Northwestern’s Ryan Field
It’s an intriguing time for Northwestern with the addition of Kelly to a team that already had a solid defense under Braun — and with the opening of the new Ryan Field on Oct. 2. Braun spent a portion of his opening statement Thursday laying out a new slogan for the 2026 Wildcats.
“Big Ten championship, why not us?” he said. “Host a College Football Playoff game at new Ryan Field, why not us? Aspire to chase down a national championship, why not us?”
He went on to say the university leadership — including new President Mung Chiang — the talent the Wildcats retained from 2025, the coaching staff including coordinators Tim McGarigle and Kelly and the timing all give him belief.
“Everything he’s saying is the truth,” Komolafe said. “I feel like we’re always overlooked, and our mentality shouldn’t be just to get to a bowl game or six wins. Honestly, we should be a 12-0 team, a team that wants to go to the Big Ten championship and then ultimately play in the College Football Playoff.”
Then, perhaps, there wouldn’t be any questions about wanting to stay.
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