UCLA Football: Who will replace Joshua Kelley in 2020?

Joshua Kelley finished up a successful career with UCLA football and now the Bruins are tasked with finding his replacement.

As if there weren’t enough uncertainties surrounding Chip Kelly’s program in 2020, the running back position is a major question mark for the Bruins and that has to come with an uneasy feeling for Bruins fans.

Joshua Kelley, who rushed for over 2,300 yards in two seasons with the Bruins, is gone and UCLA will be looking for his replacement.

It’s not going to be easy to replace Kelley but there are some solid options, including Demetric Felton who’s entering his senior year. He was a former receiver who turned into a Swiss army knife for the Bruins, accounting for 331 rushing yards and 594 receiving yards. He isn’t built to be an every-down back, but he’ll be that change of pace back that the Bruins will need.

Who will he complement? There are a couple of options and if I were a betting man, I’d say it’s between Kazmeir Allen, a former four-star recruit in the 2018 class, and Duke transfer Brittain Brown.

Allen has 251 yards on 5.8 yards per carry in two seasons with the Bruins and it’s a mystery as to why he hasn’t gotten more touches with how effective he’s been. We could see him truly break out in his junior year with UCLA as the lead back alongside Felton.

If it’s not Allen, Brown would be the next choice. The Duke transfer rushed for over 700 yards as a freshman in 2017 and then suffered through two injury-plagued seasons before leaving for UCLA. He has solid size at 6-1, 205 pounds and has over 1,100 career rushing yards.

There’s talent in the backfield, but Kelly needs to settle on a workhorse so the offense isn’t in limbo.

Felton may be moved back more to his natural slot position while Allen and Brown duke it out. Either way, that makes three backs capable of carrying the load in 2020.