Alvin Kamara
| Tennessee Volunteers No. 6 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Running back |
| Class | Redshirt Junior |
| Career history | |
| College |
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| High school | Norcross High School |
| Personal information | |
| Date of birth | July 25, 1995 |
| Place of birth | Norcross, Georgia |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
| |
Alvin Mentian Kamara (born July 25, 1995) is an American football running back for the Tennessee Volunteers.
Early years
Kamara attended Norcross High School in Norcross, Georgia. 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 AAAAAA 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 rated Kamara as the No. 6 player in Georgia.
Kamara committed to play at the University of Alabama under Nick Saban.
College career
In 2013, Kamara redshirted as a true freshman at the University of Alabama.
In 2014, Kamara transferred 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 Dragon propelled Kamara to one of the top JUCO prospects in the nation. He earned a 5-star rating from the Rivals and Scout recruiting services.
In 2015, Kamara transferred to the University of Tennessee to play under Butch Jones. As a redshirt sophomore, Kamara played in all 13 games in 2015. He accounted for 144 yards and two touchdowns in his Tennessee debut vs 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 Vol in history with a rushing touchdown and punt return for touchdown in the same game with a 2-yard rushing TD and a 50-yard punt return TD vs. 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.
In 2016, Kamara has been a key contributor to each game so far in his redshirt junior season. In the 2016 Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, he had six touches for 34 yards and one touchdown in a win vs. Virginia Tech. He started his first career game at running back for the Vols in a win vs. Ohio on September 17. He had 79 all-purpose yards in 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.[1] He had 138 all-purpose yards, including a receiving touchdown, in a 34-31 win against Georgia.[2] He had a career game the following week in a 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.[3]