Kenny Hilliard (born October 3, 1991) is 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

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

for the

LSU Tigers football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Th ...

team. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Early years

Hilliard graduated from Patterson High School in 2011. He committed to

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

on December 19, 2009. Hilliard played in the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Hilliard was regarded as one of the best running backs of the class of 2011, and was featured in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' "Where will they be?" series. He is the nephew of former NFL running back

Dalton Hilliard Dalton Andrea Hilliard (born January 21, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints from 1986-1993. He played his entire NFL career for the Sai ...

. He set the LHSAA state rushing record in his senior season.

College career

Hilliard made his debut for the Tigers in their first game against the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. ...

on September 3, 2011. He scored his first touchdown in a game versus the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

. He went on to score 8 more touchdowns on the year in games against the Auburn Tigers (2),

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

(2), Ole Miss (1),

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(1), and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(3). By far his best performance his freshman year came in the Arkansas game where he rushed for 102 yards on 19 carries and scored 1 touchdown. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance. Another notable performance came in the SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs where he picked up 72 rushing yards on 8 carries scoring two touchdowns. He also had 1 reception for 8 yards and a touchdown. All three of his touchdowns came in the third quarter of the contest tying the record for most touchdowns in an SEC Championship game. In his freshman season he had 324 rushing yards on 57 carries with 8 touchdowns and 3 receptions for 13 yards and 1 touchdown. He was named to the SEC All-Freshman team for his efforts.

Professional career

Houston Texans

Hilliard was selected by the Texans in the seventh round, 235th overall, in the 2015 NFL Draft. He was released by the Texans on September 5, 2015, and was signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Texans on January 11, 2016. On September 3, 2016, Hilliard was released by the Texans. He was re-signed to the practice squad on November 15, 2016. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Texans on January 16, 2017. On May 16, 2017, Hilliard was waived by the Texans.

Washington Redskins

On July 31, 2017, Hilliard signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. He was waived on September 2, 2017. He was re-signed to their active roster on December 23, 2017. He was waived by the Redskins on December 27, 2017, and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Redskins on January 1, 2018. He was waived by the Redskins on March 6, 2018.

Memphis Express

In 2018, Hilliard signed with the

Memphis Express The Memphis Express was a professional American football franchise based in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a member of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) during its single season in 2019. They played their home games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stad ...

of the

AAF AAF may refer to: Aviation * Aigle Azur (ICAO code), a French airline * Apalachicola Regional Airport (IATA code), in Apalachicola, Florida Corporations * American Air Filter, today a part of HVAC-equipment-maker Daikin Military * Albanian Arm ...

for the 2019 season. He failed to make the final roster. He was added to the team's rights list and re-signed to a contract on March 18, 2019, and placed on the active roster on March 19. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bioRivals.com Recruiting ProfileScout.com Recruiting Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilliard, Kenny 1991 births Living people People from Patterson, Louisiana American football running backs LSU Tigers football players Houston Texans players Washington Redskins players Memphis Express (American football) players