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Jalen Buckley

#6Jalen Buckley

Jalen Buckley is a Committee Back for Western Michigan. Jalen's 2026 season produced 2.2 total EPA across 31 plays.

2026 Usage Outlook · projected share of team plays

19%
projected
band 12%'25 21%26%

Regressed toward the RB mean. Model correlation r≈0.52 on a 2019-2025 walk-forward — volume only; efficiency not projected.

What projects, and what doesn't · RBs · held out 2019-2025

How well one season predicts the next, measured on seasons the model never trained on. 1.00 would be perfectly predictable; 0.00 means last year told us nothing.

  • Usage share (volume)0.52
    Beats guessing the RB average by 18%. n=4,219 RB seasons
  • EPA per play (efficiency)0.10
    Not projectable — we do not forecast this. n=3,575 RB seasons
  • Total EPA (value)0.41
    Beats guessing the RB average by 9%. n=3,575 RB seasons

Across all positions, usage carries year to year at 0.47 and efficiency at 0.07. So Jalen Buckley's projection is a projection of opportunity — how much of the offense he runs through. How well he converts it is something this model does not claim to know a year in advance, and the number above is why.

2026 Production

Rushing
90 Rush yards3 Rush TD29 Carries3.1 Yards/carry
Receiving
1 Receptions9 Rec yards0 Rec TD9.0 Yards/rec

Performance Analysis · 2026 · vs RB peers

  • Efficiency0
  • Volume69
  • Explosiveness2
  • Consistency50
  • Receiving31
Player type
Committee Back

Part of a rotation — contributes in a complementary role and keeps the featured back fresh.

Rotational roleSituational use
Peer percentiles
Opponent-adjusted EPA (WEPA/play)0th %ile · below avg
Key findings
  • Below-average efficiency vs RB peers — value comes through volume, not per-play impact.
  • Peak game: 0.37 EPA/play in Wk 2 vs Monmouth.

NIL Market Tier· 2026

On3 valuation ↗
Starter

Meaningful starter. Local collective + position-group deals.

Tier is a model estimate based on position, school brand, performance rank, and usage — not a reported deal. NIL deals are private. For a real market valuation, see On3's NIL profile, which factors in social following and actual deal tracking.

Game Log · box score + EPA, week by week

+0.3700.37Wk 1 vs Michigan: -0.10 EPA/play1Wk 2 vs Monmouth: +0.37 EPA/play2
EPA per play · x-axis: weekabove 0 = added points · below = lost
WkOpponentResultOpp SP+CarRush YdsAvgRush TDRecRec YdsRec TDEPA/play
1@MichiganL12-1312.219623.30-0.10
2vsMonmouthW49-1410282.831900.37

Usage & Situational · Pro

Snap-share proxy
Overall
24.2%
Passing plays
4.1%
Rushing plays
38.7%
Standard downs
25.6%
Passing downs
21.4%
EPA by down type
Standard downs
0.13
Passing downs
-0.09
Pass / Rush EPA
-0.30 / 0.10

Usage = share of team plays (CFBD has no true snap counts).

Career · rolling EPA, game by game

Per-game EPA5-game avg
+0.480−0.26
EPA per play · 2023 · 11 games

Chart shows per-game EPA (bars) and rolling 5-game average (line). Season breaks marked with dashed lines. Line value = est. points over replacement per game.

EPA = expected points added (opponent-adjusted). NIL estimates are model-based ranges, not reported deals. Data: CollegeFootballData. Not betting advice.