After excelling with the Bears in the 2022 football season, running back Elijah Dotson entered the NFL Draft in spring 2023, seeking to take the next step of his football career. That move panned out well. Although he went unselected in the draft, the 24-year-old Sacramento native signed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent. 

Dotson made the most of his opportunity in the preseason, racking up 146 yards on 18 carries, including two long touchdown runs. Following Dotson鈥檚 strong preseason, he was only one of two undrafted free agents to make the Chargers鈥� 53-man roster. 

Dotson transferred to UNC in 2022 after graduating with a bachelor鈥檚 in Business Administration and a 3.8 GPA from Sacramento State University, where he was a two-time, first-team All-Big Sky selection. In his final collegiate season at UNC, he had 933 rushing yards and six touchdowns along with 300 receiving yards. He also handled kick returns for the Bears, averaging 19.4 yards per return on 13 attempts, running one return all the way back for an 82-yard touchdown. 

Dotson earned All-Big Sky honors four times and made the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team twice. 

Touchdown Wire, an NFL blog, called Dotson one of the Chargers鈥� 鈥淪ecret Superstars鈥� and an 鈥渦nder-the-radar guy.鈥� The sports blog credits his time at UNC with giving him a shot with the Chargers. 

This Bear is one to watch.