Alvin Mentian Kamara (born July 25, 1995) is an American football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Tennessee and was drafted by the Saints in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Video Alvin Kamara
Early years
Born to a Liberian mother, Kamara attended Norcross High School in Norcross, Georgia. He played high school football for the Blue Devils football team. As a junior in 2011, he rushed for 1,300 yards with 17 touchdowns. As a senior in 2012, he rushed for 2,264 yards with 26 touchdowns, and he had 22 receptions for 286 yards and five touchdowns and led his high school to its first state championship. As a result of his successful high school career, Kamara earned Georgia Mr. Football honors from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, named Class 6A Player of the Year, and earned first-team All-State honors from the Georgia Sports Writers Association. In addition to these accolades, Kamara was selected to participate in the 2013 Under Armour All-America Game.
Coming out of high school, Kamara was considered to be one of the top running back prospects in the nation. He was rated the No. 1 all-purpose back in the 247Composite, the No. 5 player in Georgia, and the No. 42 player nationally in 2012. Rivals.com rated Kamara as the No. 6 player in Georgia.
Kamara committed to play college football at the University of Alabama under Nick Saban.
Maps Alvin Kamara
College career
University of Alabama
Kamara's short time at University of Alabama was "a rough experience". He had knee surgery during the preseason, then redshirted as a true freshman when he was unable to break into a recruitment class that featured three other future NFL running backs in Derrick Henry, T. J. Yeldon, and Kenyan Drake. Due to "behavioral issues", Saban banned Kamara from practicing with the team and suspended him from their bowl game.
Hutchinson Community College
In 2014, Kamara transferred from Alabama to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas for his redshirt freshman season. In nine games, Kamara ran for 1,211 yards (134.6 per game) with 18 touchdowns, and led the Blue Dragons with 1,469 yards of total offense and 21 touchdowns. His successful season with Blue Dragons propelled Kamara to one of the top JUCO prospects in the nation. He earned a 5-star rating from the Rivals.com and Scout.com recruiting networks.
University of Tennessee
2015 season
In 2015, Kamara transferred to the University of Tennessee to play under head coach Butch Jones. As a red-shirt sophomore, Kamara played in all 13 games and shared the backfield with Jalen Hurd and John Kelly. He accounted for 144 yards and two touchdowns in his Tennessee debut against Bowling Green at Nissan Stadium on September 5, 2015; his 144 rushing yards set school record for most rushing yards in a debut game. He became the second Volunteer in history with a rushing touchdown and punt return for touchdown in the same game with a 2-yard rushing touchdown and a 50-yard punt return touchdown against Western Carolina. On November 14, against North Texas, he had 15 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the home victory. Tennessee finished with a 9-4 record and qualified for the Outback Bowl against Northwestern. In the 45-6 victory over the Wildcats, he had 53 rushing yards and a touchdown. In the entire 2015 season, he accounted for 698 yards (53.7 yards/game) with seven rushing touchdowns. He averaged 6.5 yards per carry, which was third in the SEC. He was second on team in receptions with 34 for 291 yards and three receiving touchdowns. As a punt returner, he had eight returns for 100 yards (12.5 average) with a touchdown.
2016 season
In 2016, Kamara was a key contributor for the Volunteers in his redshirt junior season. The running back personnel was the same as the last season for Kamara. In the 2016 Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, he had six touches for 34 yards and one touchdown in a win against Virginia Tech. He started his first career game at running back for the Vols in a win against Ohio on September 17. He had 79 all-purpose yards in a 38-28 win against Florida, including six yards on two carries, 12 yards on one reception and career highs of 61 punt-return yards and six punt returns. He had 138 all-purpose yards, including a receiving touchdown, in a 34-31 win against Georgia. He had a career-best game the following week in a 45-38 2-OT loss against Texas A&M at Kyle Field. He rushed for 127 yards and two rushing touchdowns, and had eight receptions for 161 yards and a receiving touchdown. In the next game against Alabama, he was limited to eight carries for 21 yards but had the Vols' lone touchdown in the 49-10 defeat. He missed some playing time due to being injured. He returned on November 12 in a win against Kentucky. Against the Wildcats, he had 10 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns. In the 63-37 victory over Missouri, he had 55 rushing yards and two more rushing touchdowns. In the regular season finale against Vanderbilt, he had three total touchdowns (two rushing and one receiving) and 141 scrimmage yards in the 45-34 defeat. In the final game of his collegiate career, he had seven carries for 31 yards and seven receptions for 46 yards in the victory over Nebraska in the Music City Bowl. He finished third in the SEC in touchdowns for the 2016 season.
Following the conclusion of the 2016 season, Kamara decided to forgo his redshirt senior season and enter the 2017 NFL Draft. In his two seasons as a Volunteer, he started in only eight of 24 games due to sharing the backfield with Jalen Hurd, but he amassed more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and averaged a touchdown per game.
Professional career
Kamara completed nearly every drill at the NFL Combine, and posted the highest Wonderlic test score of the participating running backs. He participated at Tennessee's Pro Day, but chose to only run positional routes, the short shuttle, and three-cone drill with 19 other teammates in front of representatives and scouts from every team. He attended five private workouts and visits held by the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and Philadelphia Eagles. NFL draft experts and analysts projected him as a second round pick, ranked as either the fourth-best running back (by NFLDraftScout.com, ESPN, and NFL analyst Mike Mayock) in the draft, fifth-best (Bucky Brooks), or seventh-best (by Sports Illustrated).
The New Orleans Saints selected Kamara in the third round (67th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the fifth running back selected.
Kamara split backfield duties with Mark Ingram Jr. through the 2017 season, with fewer carries but more receptions than his teammate. In the September 11 season opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, Kamara debuted with seven rushes for 18 yards, four receptions for 20 yards, and one kickoff return for 26 yards. In Week 2 against the New England Patriots, his role in the passing game expanded with three receptions for 51 yards in the 36-20 loss; he also returned three kickoffs, but would return only one more until Week 16 of the season. Kamara scored his first professional touchdown in Week 3 against the Carolina Panthers. In Week 4, he had 96 yards from scrimmage, including 10 receptions for 71 yards and a 12-yard touchdown catch. This was followed by 10 carries for 75 yards in Week 5, and 107 yards from scrimmage in Week 6 against the Green Bay Packers. After the bye week, Kamara had a touchdown against the Chicago Bears, and then 68 rushing yards including a 3-yard touchdown, along with 84 receiving yards including a 33-yard touchdown in a breakout victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During a Week 12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Kamara provided 101 receiving yards and 87 rushing yards including a 74-yard rushing touchdown. He became the first player since Herschel Walker in 1986 to compile 500 rushing and receiving yards in his first 11 career games, and was the first non-quarterback to average over 7.0 yards per carry through 12 weeks since the merger. In Week 13, Kamara rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns and caught 5 passes for 66 yards, becoming the fourth 600/600 rookie in NFL history, and tying Todd Gurley for the league lead in total touchdowns with 11. On the first drive of the Week 13 match-up with Atlanta, Kamara suffered a concussion and missed the rest of the game. He returned the next week with 44 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Jets. On December 19, 2017, Kamara was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie alongside Mark Ingram, becoming the first ever pair of running backs from the same team to earn the honors. He was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. After 32 rushing with 58 receiving yards in a Week 16 win over Atlanta, in the season finale Kamara had a 106-yard kick return for a touchdown, 44 rushing yards and another touchdown, and 84 receiving yards.
In 2017, his 728 yards rushing and 826 yards receiving was the first 700/700 season by a New Orleans Saint, third by an NFL rookie, and 11th 700/800 season by any NFL player. His 728 rushing yards finished third among rookies behind rushing leader Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournette. His 81 receptions on the season were first among all rookies and second in the league among running backs behind Le'Veon Bell, and his 826 receiving yards finished first among running backs. Kamara and Ingram became the first running back duo in NFL history to each have over 1,500 scrimmage yards in the same season. Among non-quarterbacks with 100+ carries, his 6.07 yards per rush was the most ever by an NFL rookie, any Saints player, and the third most by any NFL player since 1980.
In the 2017 season, the Saints finished with a 11-5 record and won the NFC South. In the Wild Card Round against the Carolina Panthers, Kamara had 23 rushing yards, a rushing touchdown, and one reception for 10 yards in the 31-26 victory. In the Divisional Round against the Minnesota Vikings, he had a 14-yard receiving touchdown from Drew Brees in the fourth quarter to put the Saints up 21-20. However, the Saints would lose to the Vikings by a score of 29-24 on the last play of the game.
After a stellar rookie season, Kamara was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
References
External links
- Tennessee Volunteers biography
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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