Alvin Kamara

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 Tennessee Volunteers and was drafted by the Saints in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Early years

Born to Liberian parents, 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. 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 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

In 2013, Kamara redshirted as a true freshman at the University of Alabama.

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 recruiting services.

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 in 2015. 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. 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. 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.^[1] 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.^[2] He had 138 all-purpose yards, including a receiving touchdown, in a 34–31 win against Georgia.^[3] 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.^[4]

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. Kamara was also a very successful punt returner during his career with the Volunteers.^[5]

Professional career

Kamara received an invitation to the NFL Combine and completed nearly every combine drill, except for the short shuttle and three-cone drill. He participated at Tennessee's Pro Day, but chose to only run positional routes, the short shuttle, and three-cone drill with 19 other teammate in front of representatives and scouts from every team.^[6] He attended five private workouts and visits held by the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, and Philadelphia Eagles.^[7] NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be a second-round pick. Kamara was ranked the fourth-best running back in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, ESPN, and NFL analyst Mike Mayock, was ranked the fifth best running back by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks, and was ranked the seventh best running back by Sports Illustrated.^{[8][9][10][11]}

The New Orleans Saints selected Kamara in the third round (67th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.^[13]

References

External links

• Tennessee Volunteers biography