Indiana's Mikail Kamara Named AP Third-Team All-American

Edge rusher Mikail Kamara was the lone Hoosier to make the Associated Press All-American team.

Indiana's Mikail Kamara (6) celebrates against Michigan at Memorial Stadium. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana redshirt junior defensive lineman Mikail Kamara was honored Monday among the nation's best.

Kamara made the Associated Press third-team All-American as an edge rusher. Virginia Tech's Antwaun Powell-Ryland is the other third-team edge rusher selection. The second-team edge rushers include South Carolina's Kyle Kennard and Marshall's Mike Green, while Penn State's Abdul Carter and Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku comprise the first-team edge rushers.

Kamara is Indiana's only representative on the AP's All-American first, second or third teams, though coach Curt Cignetti was named national coach of the year.

After beginning his career with four seasons at James Madison, Kamara followed Cignetti to Indiana and became one of the Big Ten's top defenders. Through 12 regular season games, the 6-foot-1, 265-pound defensive lineman has 44 tackles and leads the Hoosiers with 15 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and six quarterback hits.

Kamara's 10 sacks are tied for the fifth most in a single season in program history with Adewale Ogunleye in 1997, and it's the most since Jammie Kirlew's 10.5 sacks during the 2008 season. Kamara is Indiana's first All-American defensive lineman since Greg Middleton in 2007.

"He's the harder worker on the defense, he's the last guy off the practice field, so he's always looking for his own improvement," Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said. "When did I start to notice, man, he's really flashing? He's always flashed ever since I've been with him. He seems a little twitchier off the edge. I think part of this is just a mental thing. I think him coming here from Group of Five, coming from JMU, can I roll with the big guys, can I roll with the Big Ten offensive linemen? Then recognizing in the spring, second, third practice in, oh, yeah, I can do the same thing that these guys that I was doing to Sun Belt offensive tackles. So it's probably a confidence thing that showed up too."

Terrific play after terrific play. @Mikail_kamara6 is the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week & the Bednarik Award National Defensive Player of the Week! pic.twitter.com/arYoUtsKZN

— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) November 5, 2024

Kamara was named to the first-team All-Big Ten after ranking second in the conference in sacks and tackles for loss. Among FBS edge rushers with at least 400 snaps, Kamara has the 10th-highest grade for defense (89.4), according to Pro Football Focus, and he ranks eighth in pass rush grade (90.1). His 61 total pressures are tied for the second most in the country.

Indiana honored Kamara on Senior Day against Purdue, the final regular season game of his fifth collegiate season. But due to previous redshirt seasons, Kamara has remaining eligibility to return to college for the 2025 season. On Nov. 7, Kamara was listed in a FOX Sports article as one of five players "flying up scouts' draft boards" for the 2025 NFL Draft.

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