The Maxwell Football Club and the Walter Camp Football Foundation named Indiana football’s Mikail Kamara the National Defensive Player of Week, according to an Indiana Athletics release Tuesday.
The redshirt junior defensive lineman finished with 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in Indiana’s 47-10 victory over Michigan State on Nov. 2. The Hoosiers held the Spartans to just 77 yards over the final three quarters, ending the game with 15 tackles for loss and seven sacks alongside sophomore defensive back Amare Ferrell’s pair of interceptions.
“That’s really impressive,” Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti said Nov. 2. “That’s a great credit to our defensive players, staff. And they got after him up front. That’s the first thing you got to do to win games is win up front on both sides of the ball. It got pretty dominant there at one point.”
Not only has Kamara inserted himself into the national conversation as one of the best pass rushers with his Big Ten-leading 9.5 sacks, but Indiana’s whole defensive line has.
“Defensively, we create havoc up front,” Cignetti said. “We swarm the ball. The whole team got a little edge, they’re relentless.”
Kamara has 14.5 tackles for loss, the most in the Big Ten as Penn State junior defensive lineman Abdul Carter is second with 11.5.
Indiana hosts Michigan at 3:30 p.m. Saturday inside Memorial Stadium. The contest will be broadcast on CBS as its B1G TIME game with Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Jenny Dell on the call.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
