Antonio Pittman (born December 19, 1985) is a firefighter and a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. He played college football at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. He was drafted by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft and later played for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Early years

Pittman attended

Buchtel High School John R. Buchtel Community Learning Center, formerly known as John R. Buchtel High School and often referred to as Buchtel High School or Buchtel CLC, is a public high school in Akron, Ohio, United States, serving grades 7–12. It is one of seven ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

, where he earned All-Ohio honors as a senior. Pittman majored in

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and

African Studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...

at Ohio State. On Pittman's left arm is a tattoo honoring his brother, Anthony, who died at the age of 23. While in high school Pittman lived with his sister. He has one daughter, Keilyn.

College career

2005

Despite a slow start to the 2005 season, he finished the year with 1,331 yards rushing and seven touchdowns on 243 carries. His rushing yardage was the 10th-best single-season mark in school history and only Archie Griffin gained more yards (1,577) as a sophomore. His rushing total was the 11th highest in the NCAA that season and 5th best in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. In addition to running, Pittman made 17 receptions for 161 yards in 2005. In his first appearance, Pittman rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries against

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

. His career-high is 186 yards in a game against the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, where he also scored his first touchdown of the season.empty He scored the winning touchdown in the 2005 game against the Michigan Wolverines. His run around the Michigan defensive line for a three-yard touchdown run came with just 24 seconds left in the game. In the next game, he clinched the 2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

by erupting for a 60-yard touchdown run with 1:46 left in the game, despite having an injured hamstring. In 2005, he became just the fourth sophomore in Ohio State annals to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season, joining Archie Griffin, Vince Workman and Keith Byars.

2006

In 2006,

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Troy Smith Troy James Smith (born July 20, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Ohio State, was recognized as an All-American, and won the Heisman Trophy in 2006. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fi ...

said of Pittman, "Everybody knows who he is in the state of Ohio, but I think nationally, he's one of the top three backs." Pittman averaged more than five yards per carry in his three seasons, playing in 35 games, rushing for an average of 84 yards per game. He currently ranks 8th on Ohio State's all-time rushing list. At the beginning of the 2006 season some called for split playing time between Pittman and freshman Chris Wells, another Akron native. However, Pittman's strong resume in 2005 and early successes guaranteed his role as starter. As the starting running back, Pittman displayed the ability to compile impressive statistics. In games against

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Penn State, and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

he rushed for over 100 yards and scored touchdowns. Also, during the game at then #2

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

he scored a touchdown. Against the Florida Gators in the BCS National Championship, Pittman rushed for 62 yards and one of Ohio State's two scores. On January 15, 2007, Pittman made the decision to forgo his senior year and declared himself eligible for the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

Career statistics

Professional career

Pre-draft

New Orleans Saints

Antonio Pittman was selected in the 4th round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the

. Pittman was cut on September 1, 2007, to make room on the roster for Pierre Thomas.

St. Louis Rams

Antonio Pittman rushes at Rams at 49ers 11-16-08 1

Pittman was claimed off of waivers by the

the day after he was released by the Saints. Pittman played in 11 games for the Rams. He saw action as a reserve running back and on special teams. For the season he rushed 38 times for 139 yards and added three receptions for 15 yards. In 2008 Pittman played in 12 games and started five in place of Steven Jackson. He carried the ball 79 times for 296 yards and no touchdowns. He caught 18 passes for 132 yards. Pittman was waived on September 5, 2009.

Personal

On September 4, 2015, Pittman graduated from the Ohio Fire Academy with the intent of becoming a firefighter. On December 14, 2017, he joined the Middletown Division of Fire. Pittman would later join the Columbus Division of Fire in 2020.

References

External links

St. Louis Rams bioCareer Statistics
from

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

2005 NCAA Rushing StatisticsPittman Ohio State's No. 1 RB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittman, Antonio 1985 births Living people African-American players of American football Players of American football from Akron, Ohio American football running backs Ohio State Buckeyes football players St. Louis Rams players 21st-century American firefighters 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people