Healthy Kamara Expects Hoosier Greatness This Season
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For those lining up against Indiana defensive lineman Mikail Kamara next season, we offer this advice:
Beware.
This 6-foot-1, 268-pound force of football nature wrecks offenses almost as easily as he breathes.
Last season at James Madison, a mostly healthy Kamara (he battled through a knee injury) totaled 17.5 tackles for loss with 6.5 sacks. In 23 college games, he has 23 tackles for loss, at least one in all but two games.
What will he do this season, his first as a Hoosier?
Consider the possibilities. Kamara certainly has, now that a pair of shoulder surgeries, two ankle sprains, and a banged-up knee are in his rearview mirror.
“I missed a lot of games,” he says. “I needed to play. I needed more game experience. Once I got over the hump with the injuries, I could play faster, work out harder. That transformed me into becoming a better player.”
Transformation included 52 tackles and second-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors last season. As for the injuries and missed time, Kamara finds perspective where others might dwell on frustration.
“I’m grateful for the injuries. They allowed me to grow. They allowed me to understand perseverance. They also allowed me to gain a new love for the game.
“I realized the game could be taken away at any moment. It doesn’t matter if it’s practice or a game. Every time I go out on the field, it could be my last time, so I go 100 percent."
Coaches always seek high-motor defensive linemen who can sack quarterbacks and stuff running backs behind the line of scrimmage. It requires a special set of physical, mental, and technical skills.
Kamara has them.
“It’s a mixture of a lot of things,” he says. “It’s my speed, strength, and quickness. The thing I take the most pride in is knowing the game of football. A lot of the plays I make might look like I was making great plays by just being a better athlete, but a lot of it was film study and preparation.
“When I get into a game, that should be the easiest time. The offseason is the hardest time. That’s when I’m working through kinks, working through what I have to get better at. When it’s game time, it’s playing confident and free. I already know what they’re doing before the ball is snapped.”
While personal statistics are fine, they’re not what drives Kamara. He’s well aware of IU’s recent struggles that resulted in the hiring of Curt Cignetti out of James Madison last November.
“My first my goal is I want us to win. I want to turn this program around.
“A lot of people I talk to, transfers come in and say, ‘We’re going to change the program.’ No one believes in us. They might say they do, they might say they’re excited we’re here, but no one believes in us. The first thing I want to do is put us on the map. The second thing I want to do is become an elite guy. Get whatever accolades I can and make my journey to the next level.”
In addition to Kamara, IU used the transfer portal to add defensive linemen CJ West (Kent State) and James Carpenter (James Madison). Returning veterans include Lanell Carr Jr., Venson Sneed Jr., and Marcus Burris Jr. Coaches also moved linebacker Jacob Mangum-Farrar to the “stud” position, which is basically a hybrid linebacker/defensive end.
“We have the best D-line in the country -- easily,” Kamara says. “We have great linebackers -- probably the two best linebackers (Aiden Fisher and Jailin Walker, both James Madison transfers) in the country.”
Kamara has benefited from defensive coordinator Bryant Haines knack for shutting down offenses. In each of Haines four seasons at James Madison, the Dukes ranked in the top 10 nationally in total defense. They were in the top 10 in scoring defense the last two years.
“In Coach Haines scheme, he lets us go and play,” Kamara says. “He lets the D-line go and eat. He lets the linebackers play off of that.
“Coach Haines is a hell of a defensive coordinator. He puts us in positions to win, positions us to have success based off of Xs and Os or based off of personnel. He knows what he’s doing. A lot of credit goes to him.”
Haines has brought his aggressive defensive approach to Bloomington.
“It’s everyone being disciplined, and playing violent and physical,” Kamara says. “That’s the game we played at JMU. That’s the game we’ll play here -- physical in all three phases physical. That’s our motto.”
Kamara is one of IU’s 28 transfers, 13 from James Madison, who aim to make a major Big Ten impact.
“We’re all players,” he says. “Once we get the ball rolling, everyone is going to know about me, about Aiden, about J-Walk, about our running backs.
“All the guys we have are dogs. They were overlooked because they played in the Sun Belt. It’s not a Power 5 conference. We have size. We have speed. We just needed a bigger stage.”
They have it now.
“It does motivate us,” Kamara says, “but our goals are more team oriented rather than personal. That brings us closer. We are becoming better leaders because we have to.”
IU opens its season with a pair of non-conference opponents -- at home against FIU and Western Illinois -- before making its first appearance at the Rose Bowl since 1968, when it shared the Big Ten title with Purdue and Minnesota, by playing UCLA.
“It’s simply just win,” Kamara says. “Beat the non-conference guys and then the in-conference guys and show them that we’re a different program.”
In the end, for Kamara and all the Hoosiers, it comes down to this:
“We have to have a great summer,” Cignetti says. “Guys have to commit. Nothing is given. Everything is earned. That’s the way it has to be.”
Or, as Kamara puts it, “I’m excited about this team. I see greatness from every player."