Elijah Hood (born April 22, 1996) 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

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Early years

Hood attended

Charlotte Catholic High School Charlotte Catholic is a Wikt:diocesan, diocesan high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States founded in 1955. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, where he played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

and became an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle S ...

. As a senior, he won the

Hall Trophy The All-American Bowl Player of the Year Award (formerly known as the Hall Trophy and U.S. Army Player of the Year Award) has been awarded annually since 2000 to the most outstanding high school football player in the United States, comparable to t ...

as the U.S. Army Player of the Year. During the season, he rushed for 3,690 yards and 53

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

. He finished his career with 8,981 yards and 147 touchdowns. He was ranked by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

as the fourth best running back recruit in his class. He originally committed to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

but changed his mind and chose to attend the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Professional career

Oakland Raiders

Hood was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round, 242nd overall, in the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

. He was the last of six North Carolina Tar Heels to be drafted that year. He was waived on September 2, 2017 and was signed to the Raiders' practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on October 25, 2017. He was waived by the Raiders on October 30, 2017 and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Raiders on January 2, 2018. He was waived by the Raiders on May 7, 2018.

Carolina Panthers

On May 8, 2018, Hood was claimed off waivers by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

. Due to a knee injury from a preseason game at Pittsburgh, he was placed on injured reserve on September 1, 2018. On February 25, 2019, Hood signed a one-year contract to remain with the Panthers. He was waived on July 24, 2019.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On August 17, 2019, Hood was signed by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

. He was waived on August 31, 2019.

Los Angeles Wildcats

In October 2019, Hood was drafted by the

Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles: *Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL) The Los Angeles Wildcats (also reported in various media as Pacific Coast Wildcats, Los Angeles Wilson Wildcats and Wilson's ...

in the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social ...

. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Elijah 1996 births Living people Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina American football running backs North Carolina Tar Heels football players Oakland Raiders players Carolina Panthers players Jacksonville Jaguars players Los Angeles Wildcats (XFL) players