Jamaal Charles

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Jamaal Charles

Jamaal Charles (born December 27, 1986 in Port Arthur, Texas) is a running back for The University of Texas Longhorns. Charles is a speed back and has enough speed to compete in track at the collegiate level, yet he seems to bounce off tacklers like a power back.

1 High school achievements
2 College career
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] High school achievements

In his junior year, Charles ran for 2,051 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading Memorial High School of Port Arthur, Texas to the 5A Division II quarterfinals. He was named first team all-state by the Texas Sports Writers Association and second team all-state by the Associated Press.

Charles followed up his stellar junior season by rushing for 2,056 yards and 25 touchdowns his senior year. The Associated Press named him to their first team all-state squad and he was declared the Houston Chronicle area offensive MVP. Charles was also named to the 2005 Parade All-America Football Team^[1] and was the District 22-5A Player of the Year both his junior and senior years.

In July of 2003, the summer between his sophomore and junior years, Charles won the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the IAAF World Youth Championships^[2]. He went on to win the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles Texas 5A state championships with times of 13.69 and 36.03 seconds, respectively, his senior year.

[edit] College career

Tailback Jamaal Charles of the 2006 Texas Longhorn football team rushes for a first down vs the Rice University Owls 16 September 2006.

In his true freshman season, Charles rushed 119 times for 878 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 7.4 yards per carry.

Jamaal has claimed to run a 4.2 40 yard dash as well as being able to bench 300 pounds and squat 400 pounds.

Charles has also had success in the classroom after being added to the Athletic Honor Roll this year by achieving at least a 3.0 GPA.

On March 11th, 2006, Charles placed fourth in the NCAA 60-meter indoor track and field championship finals. On May 14th, Charles captured his first conference title and the third Big 12 100-meter title for Texas by winning the event in 10.23 at the Big 12 outdoor meet. He led the 200 meter race after the preliminary round but elected not to participate in the final, as Texas had the Big 12 team title well in hand. On June 10th, at the NCAA outdoor competition, Charles took a fifth in the 100 meter finals, edging out UTEP's stand-out sprinter Churandy Martina (sixth place), who earlier in the year ran a 9.76 (wind-aided) 100-meters, which is just shy of the current 100-meter world record time (9.75). Charles also placed seventh in the 200 meter finals, and ran the third leg of the 4 x 100 Texas Longhorn relay team, earning a fifth place in the finals. Charles' efforts helped the Longhorns earn a third place showing for the men's track and field team, the highest since a second place finish at the 1997 NCAA finals. Thus, Charles completed his first collegiate track season as a four-time All-American (60m indoor, 100m outdoor, 200m outdoor, 4x100m relay outdoor).

With Xavier Carter (who played wide-out in LSU's college football team) recently announcing his professional status in the track and field circuit, Charles presents a strong case as the fastest college football player in the up-coming 2006-2007 season.