Karan Higdon (born September 8, 1996) is an

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 ...

who is a free agent. He played college football at

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Early years

Higdon grew up in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

, and attended that city's Riverview High School where he rushed for 1,471 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns on 218 carries. Higdon initially gave a verbal commitment to Iowa, but flipped his commitment to Michigan after a campus visit to Ann Arbor.

College career

As a freshman for

in 2015, Higdon appeared briefly in three games and totaled 19 rushing yards on 11 carries. As a sophomore in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, Higdon appeared in 12 games and had back-to-back 100-yard rushing games against Rutgers (108 yards on 13 carries) and Illinois (106 on eight carries). He totaled 425 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 72 carries for an average of 5.9 yards per carry. During the 2017 season, Higdon was Michigan's leading rusher with 994 yards on 165 carries. On October 14, 2017, Higdon rushed for a career best 200 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. He became the first Michigan running back to rush for 200 or more yards in a game since 2007. On November 4, 2017, Higdon recorded his second 200-yard game of the season, becoming the first Michigan running back to record multiple 200-yard games in the same season since Mike Hart in 2004. Following his outstanding performance, Higdon was named the Co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. Following the 2017 season, Higdon was named to the All-Big Ten offensive third-team, by both the coaches and the media. During the 2018 season, Higdon rushed for 156 yards on 13 carries against Western Michigan, 136 yards on 12 carries against Nebraska, and 115 yards on 30 carries against Northwestern. He scored the game-winning touchdown on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter of the Northwestern game. He missed the SMU game with a lower-body injury suffered in practice. He rushed for 103 yards on 25 carries against Maryland, becoming the 23rd player in Michigan program history to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards (2,020). He rushed for 132 yards against Penn State, his seventh consecutive game surpassing 100-yards. This was the second-longest streak in Michigan program history, trailing only Mike Hart's eight consecutive games with 100-yards rushing in 2007. On November 10, 2018, he rushed for 42 yards against Rutgers, surpassing the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the second quarter. He became the first 1,000-yard running back for Michigan since Fitzgerald Toussaint in 2011, and the first player of any kind to rush for over 1,000 yards since

Denard Robinson Denard Xavier Robinson (born September 22, 1990) is currently the Assistant Director of Player Personnel for the University of Michigan football program. Robinson is also a former American football running back who played for four seasons in th ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. On November 17, Higdon rushed for 101 yards on 21 carries against Indiana, recording his eighth 100-yard rushing game this season. Higdon's 100-yard game was the 13th of his career, tying him with

Gordon Bell Chester Gordon Bell (born August 19, 1934) is an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engi ...

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the a ...

and Tim Biakabutuka for the eighth-most 100-yard rushing games during a career in Michigan program history. Higdon finished the season with 1,178 yards on 224 carries, with 10 touchdowns. He scored one touchdown or more in eight of 11 games played and averaged 111.0 all-purpose yards per game. Following the season, he was named to the All-Big Ten offensive first-team by both the coaches and media He decided not to play in Michigan's bowl game, the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

, in order to prepare for the 2019 NFL Draft.

Professional career

Higdon signed with the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent following the 2019 NFL Draft. The Texans waived him on August 31 during final roster cuts. On September 1, 2019, Higdon was signed to the Texans practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Texans on January 13, 2020. On September 5, 2020, Higdon was waived by the Texans.

References

External links

Michigan profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higdon, Karan 1996 births Living people African-American players of American football Sportspeople from Sarasota, Florida Riverview High School (Sarasota, Florida) alumni Players of American football from Florida American football running backs Michigan Wolverines football players Houston Texans players 21st-century African-American sportspeople