Mark Ingram Jr.

POSITION: Running back VITALS: 5-feet-10, 205 pounds

SCHOOL: Flint Southwestern YEAR: 2007

AT SOUTHWESTERN: Ingram transferred after three seasons at Grand Blanc — to move from a four-wideout to an I-formation offense — in part because “people always called me ‘son-of-former-NFL-and-Michigan-State-star Mark Ingram’” and because “I’m trying to make a name for myself.” Southwestern had never had a winning season since its 1988 opening, and even with Ingram, the Knights only finished 4-5 for the third straight season. When coach Gary Lee was suspended a game for playing two convicted felons, some Knights wanted to boycott. Ingram insisted they play — and rushed for 377 yards and six TDs on 20 carries in an 39-22 upset of unbeaten Bay City Western. His scoring runs covered 10, 65, six, 15, 16 and 59 yards; a penalty wiped out an 80-yarder. “This young man has tremendous vision,” Lee said, “and when he sees it he has tremendous explosion to the hole.” Ingram also was a terror as a defensive back.

IN COLLEGE: Ingram signed with Alabama instead of his father’s alma mater. After 728 yards and 12 TDs as a freshman backup, he posted one of college football’s great seasons as a sophomore in 2009: rushing for 1,658 yards, 6.1 a carry and 17 touchdowns; catching 32 passes for 334 yards and three TDs; and finishing with 1,992 yards from scrimmage, 20 TDs and 6.6 yards a touch. He won the Heisman Trophy over Stanford’s Toby Gerhart in the closest vote in the award’s 75 years. “My father has been a great influence on my life,” he said in the Big Apple, “and I love him to death.” Nine days from his 20th birthday, Ingram was the youngest winner, Alabama’s first winner and with USC’s Reggie Bush (2005) and Alabama’s Derrick Henry (2015) the only running backs to win this century. A month later, the Crimson Tide finished 14-0 for their first national championship since 1992 and Nick Saban’s first of five in Tuscaloosa. Ingram was the offensive MVP in the BCS title game with 116 yards and two TDs in a 37-21 victory over Texas.

HIS LEGACY: Ingram began his senior season with a Flint-record 319 rushing yards and four touchdowns against Midland Dow. He finished it with 1,699 yards on 192 carries — that’s 8.8 a pop! — and 24 touchdowns. Two years later, he found himself posing with his sport’s most famous trophy in New York’s Downtown Athletic Club — while his well-known father watched from a New York jail because of bank fraud and money laundering convictions.

IN THE PROS: Ineligible for the draft, Ingram returned for his junior season but needed knee surgery and missed the opening two games. He still gained 875 yards with 13 TDs but had only a pair of 100-yard games. In 2011, New Orleans drafted him with the 28th pick, the only back to go in the first round. After seven seasons with the Saints — highlighted by two 1,000-yard efforts and two Pro Bowls — Ingram signed with Baltimore in 2019, gained 1,018 yards and made his third Pro Bowl at age 30.

BETCHA DIDN’T KNOW: Ingram’s father, a wide receiver, also was drafted 28th — by the New York Giants in 1987.