J'mari Taylor

Senior running back for Virginia. 2025: 1,062 rushing yards, 14 rushing TD, 43 catches.

RB · Virginia · Sr. · #3

5′9″ · 204 lb · Charlotte, NC

CFB Index 70 · #42 of 326 RBsHigh confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamReturning to Virginia for 2026

The numbers

1,062

rushing yards · 2025

14 TD · 4.8 per carry · 43 catches

Backed by 17 car · 150 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing TDs game.

Swing playSwung Virginia from 40% to 67% to win.Duke at Virginia · 27-20

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for Virginia. 2025: 1,062 rushing yards, 14 rushing TD, 43 catches.

Transferred from North Carolina Central to Virginia in 2025.

His career, year by year

How he plays

Does a little of everything without one standout trait.

TD rate: 67th percentile.

The full scouting read

J'mari Taylor

RB · Virginia · Sr · #3

Does a little of everything without one standout trait. North Carolina Central to Virginia — the move that set up everything since. His first career honor landed in 2025: All-ACC. One game to point at: 150 rush yds, 13 rec yds against NC State — Week 2, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
portal record
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2025Virginia11-3HC: Tony Elliott · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

70Quality starter #42 of 326?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: receptions (99th percentile). Strength: rush tds (96th percentile). Concern: success rate (25th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#151 / 456 · 67th pct

3.7%

EPA / carry#247 / 456 · 46th pct

0.09

Explosive rate#293 / 456 · 36th pct

5.0%

Yards / carry#317 / 456 · 31st pct

4.5

Success rate#341 / 456 · 25th pct

38.5%

Box-score rates (8)

Receptions#3 / 338 · 99th pct

Rush TDs#13 / 349 · 96th pct

Carries#14 / 349 · 96th pct

222

Long run#27 / 349 · 92nd pct

Rec yards#28 / 338 · 92nd pct

253

Rush yards#30 / 349 · 92nd pct

1062

Fumbles lost#55 / 201 · 49th pct

Yards / carry#189 / 349 · 45th pct

4.8

Season trend

EPA / carry— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Yards / carry— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

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

218 carries

16%

Stuffed (≤0)

42%

Grind (1–3)

33%

Chunk (4–9)

10%

Explosive (10+)

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home8g	67.1	4.3	0.6
Road5g	105	5.8	1.8

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	77.5	5.2	1.3
Weeks 8+7g	85.3	4.6	0.9

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Tony Elliott

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

70 · #42 of 326 RBs

Unranked recruit. Now #42 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix to repeat All-ACC

Based on 2025: #5 of 38 ACC RBs

How the All-ACC estimate is computed

35% estimated, 95% confidence interval 31–38%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Virginia	222	1,062	4.8	14	--
Career		222	1,062	4.8	14	--

Season	Team
2025	Virginia	43	253	5.9	1	--
Career		43	253	5.9	1	--

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 12 · Duke · 3&2 · Q3 · EPA +6.78(02:38) Shotgun #3 J.Taylor rush right for 78 yards gain to the DUKE00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:27, 1ST DOWN #41 W.Bettridge kick attempt good (H: #38 D.Sparks, LS: #69 B.Robinson)
Week 2 · NC State · 3&1 · Q3 · EPA +6.10J'Mari Taylor run for 66 yds for a TD (Will Bettridge KICK)
Week 2 · NC State · 4&1 · Q1 · EPA +4.85J'Mari Taylor run for 39 yds for a TD NC State Penalty, (Yards) declined (Will Bettridge KICK)
Week 2 · NC State · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA -4.08J'Mari Taylor run for no gain to the NCSU 8
Week 10 · California · 3&6 · Q1 · EPA +3.41(12:03) No Huddle-Shotgun #3 J.Taylor rush middle for 25 yards gain to the CAL00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 11:58, 1ST DOWN #41 W.Bettridge kick attempt good (H: #38 D.Sparks, LS: #69 B.Robinson)
Week 12 · Duke · 3&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.29(14:21) No Huddle-Shotgun #4 C.Morris pass complete short left to #3 J.Taylor caught at UVA26, for 25 yards to the UVA50 (#35 A.Pellicciotta), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 11 · Wake Forest · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +3.21(03:51) No Huddle-Shotgun #3 J.Taylor rush middle for 43 yards gain to the WFU32 (#3 K.Prunty), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Week 4 · Stanford · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +2.97Chandler Morris pass complete to J'Mari Taylor for 19 yds to the STAN 49 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Louisville · 3&20 · Q2 · EPA +2.77J'Mari Taylor run for 19 yds to the LOU 23
Week 5 · Florida State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.72J'Mari Taylor run for 26 yds for a TD (Will Bettridge KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 48-7vs Coastal Carolina	10	32	3.2	2	8
Wk 2	L 31-35@ NC State	17	150	8.8	3	66	Season-high 150 yds
Wk 3	W 55-16vs William & Mary	6	31	5.2	1	10
Wk 4	W 48-20vs Stanford	15	85	5.7	0	15
Wk 5	W 46-38vs Florida State	27	99	3.7	1	26
Wk 6	W 30-27@ Louisville	16	68	4.3	1	13
Wk 8	W 22-20vs Washington State	17	47	2.8	0	7
Wk 9	W 17-16@ North Carolina	21	69	3.3	1	10
Wk 10	W 31-21@ California	21	105	5.0	2	25
Wk 11	L 9-16vs Wake Forest	19	98	5.2	0	43
Wk 12	W 34-17@ Duke	18	133	7.4	2	78
Wk 14	W 27-7vs Virginia Tech	20	80	4.0	1	13
Wk 15	L 20-27vs Duke	15	65	4.3	0	16
Total		222	1062	4.8	14	78

How he plays

Play style

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

CFB Index positional classification

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

Not actually a closer

checked · no story

42.6%Carry share

23.6%Q4-lead share

72.0%In competitive games

42.6% of carries overall (223/524) → 23.6% of Q4-with-lead carries (25/106) — 72.0% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

23/273rd/4th & short

11/26Inside-5 share

23 of 27 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (85.2%). 11 of the team's 26 inside-the-5 carries (42.3%).

2026 Outlook

Virginia

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Running back · Virginia

Returning around him

10% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
Transfer portal: +9 net (31 in / 22 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Virginia · Last season: 11-3 (AP #20) · Talent rank #53 · 2026 recruiting class #111

DNA match

Player DNA

Balanced Back

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Nelson Smith’s 2020 season.

Nelson Smith

84%match

Navy · 2020

Emmanuel Michel

Air Force · 2023

All-Mountain West

80%

Juwaun Price

New Mexico State · 2021

77%

Anthony Hankerson

Oregon State · 2024

77%

Nay'Quan Wright

South Florida · 2024

77%

Matches Nelson on

Rush TD rate

Height

Yards / carry

Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Zach Evans’s path through North Texas.

Zach Evans

95%match

North Texas · 2024

Larry Rountree III

Missouri · 2020

All-SECNFL Rd 6

96%

Kierre Crossley

Arkansas-Pine Bluff · 2021

95%

Chuba Hubbard

Oklahoma State · 2020

All-Big 12NFL Rd 4

94%

Sedrick Irvin

Stanford · 2025

NFL Rd 4

92%

Matches Zach on

Height

Yards per carry

Weight

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Austin Jones's senior season at USC (2023).

Austin Jones

72%match

USC · 2023

Zuberi Mobley

Florida Atlantic · 2024

70%

Demond Claiborne

Wake Forest · 2025

All-ACCNFL Rd 6

70%

Rashod Dubinion

App State · 2025

All-Sun Belt

70%

Gavin Williams

Northern Illinois · 2023

70%

Matches Austin on

Receiving share

Yards / carry

Differs from Austin on

EPA / carry (adj) (lower)

Rush TD rate (lower)

Yards / reception (lower)

Heisman trajectory

Heisman Trajectory · 2025

Peak #82

Final rank

#92

Avg #86.7

Finalist prob 0%

Peaked at #82 this season.

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

202513 games

2025 snapshot

Situational

Splits & context

Awards

All-Conference 1st team

Career stats

Signature plays

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Balanced Back

Heisman trajectory

Peak #82