Steelers RB Kaleb Johnson Was Much less ‘Accepting Of Being Tackled’ Final Season, Iowa HC Says

Steelers rookie RB Kaleb Johnson has what you might call difficulty accepting being tackled, as his college coach put it. But he didn’t show up in Iowa quite like that, says Kirk Ferentz. Speaking to Brian Batko on the Chipped Ham and Football podcast, he talked about the many Iowa players on the Steelers’ roster and his expectations for Johnson.

“Last year was the first time I really felt like he started to use his attributes. He’s always been a big, strong guy. He was three years ago when he showed up,” Ferentz said of Johnson. “Last year, he really took advantage. He played to his strengths, and just because a guy was in position to tackle him didn’t mean that the guy was gonna tackle him. Maybe he was a little bit more accepting of being tackled the first two years.”

During his junior season at Iowa in 2024, Kaleb Johnson rushed for 1,537 yards on 240 carries. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry, a significant jump from his 4.6-yard average the previous two seasons. He also scored 21 touchdowns compared to nine on a combined 268 carries.

According to Pro Football Focus, Johnson averaged 4.42 yards after contact per attempt in 2024. Over the two previous seasons, he averaged 2.62 and 3.34. He also forced 66 missed tackles and recorded 43 rushes of 10-plus yards. Remarkably, he posted a breakaway rate of 56.1 percent last year. That means he gained more than half of his yardage on designed runs of 15-plus yards. Of his 1,535 rush yards, he gained 861 on 28 breakaway runs. And he recorded a breakaway run on 11.67 percent of his carries.

But it might not even have been, were it not for a fortuitous injury to then-starter Leshon Williams.

“Kaleb [Johnson] took advantage of that opportunity and, boy, when he started playing, it was just great,” Ferentz said. “He was almost like a new person from August 1 on.”

Johnson, he said, had a strong camp and was “extremely focused.” Ferentz added that Johnson was always the same guy, “but he really had a different level of maturity and focus with his approach. And it certainly showed up in practice; certainly showed up when he got to the game field”.

One quality that Ferentz highlighted in Kaleb Johnson during his final season was his timeliness. “I just think sometimes really good players know when you need something, and he stepped up,” he said. This appears to be a common theme in the Steelers’ draft, seen in players like Jack Sawyer.

Considering how badly the Steelers want to run the football and how much they crave the explosive play, Kaleb Johnson better bring that knack to Pittsburgh. To start off, he will feature in a rotation with Jaylen Warren. Many believe he will assume the primary ball-carrying role at some point this season. If he shows the same distaste for being tackled that he exhibited last year, it will be hard to avoid.