Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 15-10@ TCU | 5 | 33 | 6.6 | 1 | 9 | |
| Wk 2 | W 35-3vs East Tennessee State | 5 | 40 | 8.0 | 0 | 12 | Season-high 40 yds |
| Wk 3 | L 20-28@ Clemson | 3 | 13 | 4.3 | 0 | 8 | |
| Total | 13 | 86 | 6.3 | 1 | 12 |
#27
Jaylen McGill
Sophomore running back for North Carolina. 2026: 3 games with a box-score line.
5′10″ · 200 lb · Spartanburg, SC · Mount View Prep
Watch-list name (model)
The numbers
86
rushing yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far
Swing playSwung North Carolina from 30% to 56% to win.North Carolina at TCU · 15-10
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
Sophomore running back for North Carolina. 2026: 3 games with a box-score line.
- Signed as a 3-star recruit to North Carolina in 2025.
Jaylen McGill
This is his second year in the same backfield at North Carolina. One game to point at: 40 rush yds, 20 rec yds against East Tennessee State — Week 2, 2026.
86 RUSH YDS · 1 RUSH TD · 13 CARRIES
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
- season totals
- seasons on the roster
- game log
His career
20258 games
- Signed with North Carolina3-star out of Mountain View Preparatory
Career arc
HS
Recruit
★★★
CFB
College
North Carolina
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Career stats
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | North Carolina | 13 | 86 | 6.6 | 1 | -- |
| 2025 | North Carolina | 7 | 19 | 2.7 | 0 | -- |
| Career | 20 | 105 | 5.2 | 1 | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | North Carolina | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 0 | -- |
| 2025 | North Carolina | 7 | 49 | 7.0 | 0 | -- |
| Career | 8 | 69 | 8.6 | 0 | -- |
Game log
Game by game
Jaylen McGill's 2026 production
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2026
W 15–10
at TCU
33 rush yds (5 car) · 1 TD
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 5 on the road.
With B. Edwards — 232 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 77.2 · -4 rush yds (7 car) · A. Burrell — 41.7 yards per punt · 3 punts · 2 inside the 20
Signature plays
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
- Week 1 · TCU · 1&9 · Q1 · EPA +2.42(01:05) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush left for 9 yards gain to the TCU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 01:04 #92 A.Burrell kick attempt good (H: #93 J.Horvath, LS: #48 G.Burt)
- Week 1 · TCU · 3&3 · Q2 · EPA +1.96(01:05) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush left for 9 yards gain to the UNC45 (#22 J.Lester; #11 M.Short), 1ST DOWN
- Week 3 · Clemson · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +0.94(12:31) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush middle for 8 yards gain to the CLEM47 (#22 C.Myrick; #47 S.Brown)
- Week 3 · Clemson · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA -0.92(08:47) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush middle for 1 yard gain to the UNC47 (#47 S.Brown)
- Week 2 · East Tennessee State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +0.84(08:40) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush right for 11 yards gain to the UNC33 (#2 M.Jenkins), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
- Week 2 · East Tennessee State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +0.82(14:20) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush left for 12 yards gain to the ETS40 (#33 D.Delinois), 1ST DOWN
- Week 2 · East Tennessee State · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +0.56(05:32) No Huddle-Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush left for 7 yards gain to the ETS41 (#33 D.Delinois)
- Week 1 · TCU · 2&10 · Q3 · EPA +0.53(01:29) No Huddle-Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush right for 7 yards gain to the UNC47 (#11 M.Short; #35 T.Johnson)
- Week 2 · East Tennessee State · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +0.36(02:00) Shotgun #9 B.Edwards Jr. pass complete short left to #27 J.McGill caught at ETS25, for 20 yards to the ETS09 (#17 K.Gillespie; #0 C.Woodard), 1ST DOWN
- Week 1 · TCU · 3&13 · Q1 · EPA +0.26(02:14) Shotgun #27 J.McGill rush middle for 6 yards gain to the TCU27 (#3 M.Carroll)
2026 snapshot
Since week 2: +13 rushing yards.
Season context · Team result + system
2 seasons under Bill Belichick — 6-9 over that span.
2025North Carolina4-8HC: Bill Belichick · Balanced, slow tempo
2026North Carolina2-1HC: Bill Belichick · Run-leaning, slow tempo
Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort
Box-score percentiles
Elite: yards / carry (85th percentile). Concern: rush yards (0th percentile).
Box-score rates (7)
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Splits & context
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home1g | 40.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 23.0 | 5.4 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | YPC | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 28.7 | 6.3 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bill Belichick
Pass share
46.9%
84 pass / 95 run
Plays / game
59.7
3 games
Team sack rate
6.5%
92 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Awards
Player standing · 2026
Watch-list name (model)
Our Heisman model has him inside the top 25; he is not on a published award watch list yet.
Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
Background
2025 Freshman Season Total of 14 rushing yards with a season-long of 7 yards against Virginia 23 receiving yards wit ha season long of 15 against Virginia Prep / High School Attended Mount View Preparatory Running back ranked 26th amongst 2025 recruits in SC Multi-sport athlete in football,…
The backfield · North Carolina
- Demon June464 rushing yards · 2025
- #7Benjamin Hall274 rushing yards · 2025
- #27Jaylen McGill19 rushing yards · 2025
- #5Kaleb Jackson16 rushing yards · 2025
- #23Charleston French3 rushing yards · 2025
3 more on the roster · North Carolina team page
Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology