#33

Carson Steele

Junior running back for UCLA. 2023: 846 rushing yards, 6 rushing TD, 17 catches.

RB · UCLA · Jr. · #33

6′1″ · 225 lb · Greenwood, IN

CFB Index 52 · #109 of 310 RBsHigh confidenceUCLA 2023 alumnus

Recruiting

RB recruit

Signed with Ball State

Statement game28 car · 198 yds · 3 TDat Toledo (FBS) · L 21-28

Top 1% rushing yards game since 2021.

Carson Steele needs to become a national cult hero right nowr/CFB game thread · ▲ 8His career numbers, season by season

The story

3 running back for UCLA. 2023: 846 rushing yards, 6 rushing TD, 17 catches.

Signed with Ball State in 2021.
Transferred from Ball State to UCLA in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Three seasons at UCLA, 3,318 rushing yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2022) — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

202112 games

Signed with Ball Stateout of Center Grove

202212 games

All-MACfirst

202312 games

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

—

2021 class

CFB

College

2 teams

2021–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

2 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-MAC · 1ST TEAM

All-MAC 1st team (2022)

Coaching lineage · 2021–2023

1 coach

2021–2023

Chip Kelly

UCLA

Played his entire career under Chip Kelly.

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Ball State6-7HC: Mike Neu · Balanced

2022Ball State5-7HC: Mike Neu · Balanced

2023UCLA8-5HC: Chip Kelly · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

52Rotational starter #109 of 310?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: carries (83rd percentile). Strength: rush yards (82nd percentile). Concern: epa / carry (19th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Success rate#229 / 426 · 46th pct

43.6%

Yards / carry#235 / 426 · 45th pct

5.1

TD rate#257 / 426 · 40th pct

3.6%

Explosive rate#308 / 426 · 28th pct

4.8%

EPA / carry#346 / 426 · 19th pct

0.02

Box-score rates (8)

Carries#57 / 333 · 83rd pct

167

Rush yards#59 / 333 · 82nd pct

846

Rec yards#72 / 327 · 78th pct

163

Receptions#94 / 327 · 70th pct

Rush TDs#92 / 333 · 70th pct

Yards / carry#134 / 333 · 58th pct

5.1

Long run#173 / 333 · 48th pct

Fumbles lost#154 / 207 · 16th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

52nd → 19th percentile

Success rate

39th → 46th percentile

Explosive rate

74th → 28th percentile

Yards / carry

59th → 45th percentile

TD rate

46th → 40th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)

Yardage DNA

165 carries

12%

Stuffed (≤0)

36%

Grind (1–3)

36%

Chunk (4–9)

16%

Explosive (10+)

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home6g	76.7	6.9	0.2
Road6g	64.3	4.5	0.8

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	87.0	7.0	0.5
Weeks 8+6g	54.0	4.5	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Bob Chesney

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

52 · #109 of 310 RBs

Unranked recruit. Now #109 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	UCLA	167	846	5.1	6	--
2022	Ball State	290	1,581	5.5	14	--
2021	Ball State	192	891	4.6	6	--
Career		649	3,318	5.1	26	--

Season	Team
2023	UCLA	17	163	9.6	2	--
2022	Ball State	28	163	5.8	1	--
2021	Ball State	12	157	13.1	1	--
Career		57	483	8.5	4	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 12 · 2023

W 38–20

at USC

49 rush yds (12 car)

With T. Harden — 142 rush yds (22 car) · 1 TD · E. Garbers — 155 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 64.4 · 7 rush yds (7 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · Colorado · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA -4.43Carson Steele run for 10 yds to the COLO 6 Carson Steele fumbled, recovered by COLO Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig.
Week 11 · Arizona State · 4&1 · Q2 · EPA -4.21Carson Steele run for no gain to the ASU 1
Week 11 · Arizona State · 4&1 · Q2 · EPA -4.06Carson Steele run for no gain to the ASU 9
Week 9 · Colorado · 2&3 · Q2 · EPA -4.04Carson Steele run for 18 yds to the COLO 20 Carson Steele fumbled, recovered by COLO Omarion Cooper.
Week 13 · California · 4&1 · Q2 · EPA -3.64Carson Steele run for a loss of 3 yards to the CAL 23
Week 2 · San Diego State · 4&1 · Q2 · EPA +3.06Carson Steele run for 13 yds for a TD (RJ Lopez KICK)
Week 1 · Coastal Carolina · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +2.99Carson Steele 14 Yd pass from Dante Moore (RJ Lopez Kick)
Week 3 · North Carolina Central · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +2.72Carson Steele run for 36 yds to the UCLA 48 for a 1ST down
Week 9 · Colorado · 3&3 · Q2 · EPA +2.62Carson Steele 3 Yd pass from Ethan Garbers (RJ Lopez Kick)
Week 7 · Oregon State · 2&6 · Q4 · EPA +2.54Carson Steele 7 Yd Run (RJ Lopez Kick)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 27-13vs Coastal Carolina	13	76	5.8	0	24
Wk 2	W 35-10@ San Diego State	12	84	7.0	1	17
Wk 3	W 59-7vs North Carolina Central	5	83	16.6	1	42
Wk 4	L 7-14@ Utah	11	29	2.6	0	12
Wk 6	W 25-17vs Washington State	30	140	4.7	0	13	Season-high 140 yds
Wk 7	L 24-36@ Oregon State	22	110	5.0	1	15
Wk 8	W 42-7@ Stanford	20	76	3.8	3	13	3 rushing TDs
Wk 9	W 28-16vs Colorado	11	75	6.8	0	18
Wk 10	L 10-27@ Arizona	8	38	4.8	0	18
Wk 11	L 7-17vs Arizona State	11	33	3.0	0	12
Wk 12	W 38-20@ USC	12	49	4.1	0	19
Wk 13	L 7-33vs California	12	53	4.4	0	12
Total		167	846	5.7	6	42

How he plays

Play style

Built to take 20+ carries per game. Volume is the value.

CFB Index positional classification

Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape

Steady, not spectacular

~ our read

165Carries

842Yards

16.5%Top-5 share

11.5%Stuffed rate

Just 16.5% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 11.5% of his carries. 11 carries for 29 yds vs Utah; 30 for 140 vs Washington State.

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

Not actually a closer

checked · no story

34.8%Carry share

19.8%Q4-lead share

63.2%In competitive games

34.8% of carries overall (163/469) → 19.8% of Q4-with-lead carries (19/96) — 63.2% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

10/183rd/4th & short

8/20Inside-5 share