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| position = [[Running back]]
| position = [[Running back]]
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1995|7|25}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1995|7|25}}
| birth_place = [[Norcross, Georgia]]
| birth_place = Hall of fame
| death_date =
| death_date = legends never die
| death_place =
| death_place = legends never die
| height_ft = 5
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 10
| height_in = 10
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| college = [[Tennessee Volunteers football|Tennessee]]
| college = [[Tennessee Volunteers football|Tennessee]]
| draftyear = 2017
| draftyear = 2017
| draftround = 3
| draftround = 1
| draftpick = 67
| draftpick = 6
| undraftedyear =
| undraftedyear =
| pastteams =
| pastteams = he too good to be on other teams
* [[New Orleans Saints]] ({{NFL Year|2017}}–present)
* [[New Orleans Saints]] ({{NFL Year|2017}}–present)
| status = Active
| status = Active

Revision as of 16:51, 23 January 2018

Alvin Kamara
No. 41 – New Orleans Saints
Position:Running back
Personal information
Born: (1995-07-25) July 25, 1995 (age 29)
Hall of fame
Died:legends never die
legends never die
Height:5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight:215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school:Norcross (GA)
College:Tennessee
NFL draft:2017 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6
Career history
he too good to be on other teams
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2017
Rushing yards:728
Yards per carry:6.1
Rushing touchdowns:8
Receptions:81
Receiving yards:826
Receiving touchdowns:5
Player stats at PFR

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.

Early years

Born to a Liberian mother,[1][2] 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 (Norcross) 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-American 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.

College career

University of Alabama

Kamara's short time at University of Alabama was "a rough experience".[3] 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 starting 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.[4] He accounted for 144 yards and two touchdowns in his Tennessee debut against Bowling Green on September 5, 2015; his 144 rushing yards set school record for most rushing yards in a debut game.[5] 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.[6] On November 14, against North Texas, he had 15 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the home victory.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

2016 season

In 2016, Kamara was a key contributor for the Volunteers in his redshirt junior season.[10] 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.[11] He had 138 all-purpose yards, including a receiving touchdown, in a 34–31 win against Georgia.[12] He had a career-best game the following week in a 45–38 2-OT loss against Texas A&M. He rushed for 127 yards and two rushing touchdowns, and had eight receptions for 161 yards and a receiving touchdown.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] In the 63–37 victory over Missouri, he had 55 rushing yards and two more rushing touchdowns.[16] In the regular season finale against Vanderbilt, he had three total touchdowns (two rushing and one receiving) and 141 scrimmage yards.[17] 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.[18]

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.[19]

Professional career

Kamara completed nearly every drill at the NFL Combine, and posted the highest Wonderlic test score of participating running backs.[3] 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.[20] He attended five private workouts and visits held by the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and Philadelphia Eagles.[21] 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).[22][23][24][25]

Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press Wonderlic
5 ft 10 in
(1.78 m) 		214 lb
(97 kg) 		32+3⁄4 in
(0.83 m) 		9+1⁄4 in
(0.23 m)		 4.56 s 1.55 s 2.61 s 4.35 s 7.10 s 39+1⁄2 in
(1.00 m)		 10 ft 11 in
(3.33 m)		 15 reps 24[3]
All values from NFL Combine[26]

The New Orleans Saints selected Kamara in the third round (67th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft, the fifth of 26 running backs selected.[27]

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.[28] 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.[29] Kamara scored his first professional touchdown in Week 3 against the Carolina Panthers.[30] In week 4, he had 96 yards from scrimmage, including 10 receptions for 71 yards and a 12-yard touchdown catch.[30] 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.[31] 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,[32] and was the first non-quarterback to average over 7.0 yards per carry through 12 weeks since the merger.[33] In Week 13, Kamara rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns and caught 5 passes for 66 yards,[30] becoming the fourth 600/600 rookie in NFL history,[34] 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.[35] He returned the next week with 44 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Jets.[36] 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.[37] 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.[38]

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.[39] 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,[40] any Saints player, and the third most by any NFL player since 1980.[41][42]

In the 2017 season, the Saints finished with a 11–5 record and won the NFC South.[43] 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.[44] 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 fall to the Vikings by a score of 29–24.[45]

References

  1. ^ Erickson, Joel (November 11, 2017). "A gut feeling led Alvin Kamara from Alabama to Tennessee — then good fortune led him to the Saints". The Advocate. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  2. ^ "Africans in the 2017 NFL Draft". ESPN.com.
  3. ^ a b c Reid, Jason (25 April 2017). "Tennessee's Alvin Kamara takes an unexpected path to NFL draft". The Undefeated.
  4. ^ "2015 Tennessee Volunteers Stats". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  5. ^ "Bowling Green State vs Tennessee Box Score, September 5, 2015". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  6. ^ "Western Carolina at Tennessee Box Score, September 19, 2015". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  7. ^ "North Texas at Tennessee Box Score, November 14, 2015". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  8. ^ "Outback Bowl - Northwestern vs Tennessee Box Score, January 1, 2016". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  9. ^ "Alvin Kamara 2015 Game Log". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  10. ^ "Tide-Vols Tidbits: Kamara Finally Being Used As Envisioned". Chattanoogan.com. October 11, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  11. ^ "Alvin Kamara - 2016 Football Roster - University of Tennessee Athletics". www.UTSports.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  12. ^ "Tennessee vs. Georgia - Game Summary - October 1, 2016 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  13. ^ "Tennessee vs. Texas A&M - Game Summary - October 8, 2016 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  14. ^ "Alabama at Tennessee Box Score, October 15, 2016". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  15. ^ "Kentucky at Tennessee Box Score, November 12, 2016". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  16. ^ "Missouri at Tennessee Box Score, November 19, 2016". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  17. ^ "Tennessee at Vanderbilt Box Score, November 26, 2016". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  18. ^ "Music City Bowl - Nebraska vs Tennessee Box Score, December 30, 2016". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  19. ^ "Vols' Alvin Kamara to enter 2017 NFL Draft". KnoxNews.com. December 30, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  20. ^ Rhiannon Potkey (April 1, 2017). "Tennessee football Pro Day showcases Vols' revival". KnoxNews.com. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  21. ^ "Walter Football: 2017 NFL Draft Prospect Meetings". WalterFootball.com. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  22. ^ Chris Burke (April 24, 2017). "2017 NFL Draft Rankings: Top Prospects by Position". si.com. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  23. ^ Jeff Legwold (April 22, 2017). "Ranking 2017 Draft's Top 100 Players". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  24. ^ Mike Mayock (April 12, 2017). "Mike Mayock's 2017 NFL Draft position rankings 3.0". NFL.com. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  25. ^ Bucky Brooks (April 25, 2017). "Bucky Brooks' 2017 NFL Draft position rankings 3.0". NFL.com. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
  26. ^ "NFL Draft Profile: Alvin Kamara". NFL.com. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  27. ^ Patra, Kevin. "Saints add RB Alvin Kamara to loaded backfield". NFL.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  28. ^ "New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings - September 11th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  29. ^ "New England Patriots at New Orleans Saints - September 17th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  30. ^ a b c "Alvin Kamara Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  31. ^ "Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints - November 5th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  32. ^ Triplett, Mike (November 26, 2017). "Alvin Kamara show not enough as Rams snap Saints' win streak". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  33. ^ Players with 7.0+ yards per carry on 60+ rush attempts since 1970, weeks 1-12, PFR. Kamara was still the only non-quarterback rusher with 7.0+ yards per carry after week 13. Note that running backs Lenny Moore (in 1956 and 1958) and Skeets Quinlan (in 1953) reached this mark in 12-game seasons pre-merger, along with Bo Jackson through six games in his strike-shortened 1987 season.
  34. ^ List of 500/500 rookies on PFR. The three previous players to reach the 600/600 mark were Charley Taylor in 1964, Billy Sims in 1980, and Herschel Walker in 1986.
  35. ^ "Saints RB Alvin Kamara expects to play against Jets". NFL.com.
  36. ^ "New York Jets at New Orleans Saints - December 17th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  37. ^ "NFL announces 2018 Pro Bowl rosters". NFL.com. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  38. ^ "Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints - December 24th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  39. ^ 700/700 seasons on PFR
  40. ^ Rookies with 6.0+ yards per rush at PFR. Paul Lowe (1960) and Buddy Young (1948) also achieved this feat, but not as NFL players.
  41. ^ To Jamaal Charles (6.38 in 2010) and Barry Sanders (6.13 in 1997)
  42. ^ List of players with 100+ rush attempts, 6.0+ yards per attempt, and fewer than 10 pass attempts at PFR
  43. ^ "2017 New Orleans Saints Statistics & Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  44. ^ "Wild Card - Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints - January 7th, 2018". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  45. ^ "Divisional Round - New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings - January 14th, 2018". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
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