Alvin Kamara jokes Tennessee coaches were on 'some other [stuff]'
Like you, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara is mystified about his contributions at Tennessee.
Kamara, the NFL’s Rookie of the Year in 2017, was underused at Tennessee in 2016. His underuse was obvious at the time and became even more so as Kamara tallied over 1,500 total yards and 13 touchdowns in his first NFL season.
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The running back originally committed to Alabama and transferred to a junior college. He then came to the Vols, and his journey to Knoxville as well as his relative lack of production was a topic on the Simms and Lefkoe podcast released Thursday.
“Mr. Georgia, go to Alabama, leave Alabama, go to junior college then go to Tennessee, I don’t know what they were smoking down there — they didn’t give you enough carries,” Chris Simms said to Kamara.
“Some other s***,” Kamara responded.
“Some other s***, right,” Adam Lefkoe agreed.
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Kamara, a third-round pick, had 143 touches in his final season at Tennessee for a combined 988 total yards in 11 games. He was the team’s third-leading rusher in terms of attempts behind QB Josh Dobbs and RB Jalen Hurd.
“I don’t know, but it was like — every week I was going in like ‘Alright I might get two carries, I might get 10, I might get five touches,'” Kamara said. “I was like everything I do has to be 100 percent like I’ve got to make something happen, I’ve got to make the most out of these touches because I don’t know what the hell’s going to happen.”
Despite his relative lack of use, Tennessee finished 9-4 in 2016. Things went (in)famously south for Butch Jones and his staff in 2017 as Jones was fired with two games left in the season. Using Kamara more in 2016 probably wouldn’t have saved Jones’ job, but it sure would have made Kamara’s immediate NFL success less of a surprise.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
