Donnel Laray Pumphrey Jr. (born December 6, 1994) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former player who is the

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

s coach for

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

, a position he has held since 2023. Pumphrey played

as a running back for the

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The university fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's) in National Collegiate Athle ...

. He is the official all-time leader in rushing yards in

NCAA Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

history. Pumphrey was selected by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL draft, and spent offseasons with the Eagles and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

. He played for the

DC Defenders The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The Defenders compete in the United Football League (2024), United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded by Vince McMaho ...

of the XFL in 2020.

Early life

Pumphrey attended Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas, Nevada. As a senior, he was the Gatorade High School Football Player of the Year for Nevada after rushing for 1,491 yards on 160 carries with 19

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. During his career, he ran for 4,152 yards on 494 attempts with 49 touchdowns. Pumphrey was rated as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com. He committed to

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

to play

College career

As a true freshman in 2013, Pumphrey played in all 13 games, making one start. He finished second on the team behind Adam Muema with 752 rushing yards on 125 carries with eight touchdowns. After Muema entered the 2014 NFL draft, Pumphrey became the starter his sophomore year in 2014. He played in all 13 games and rushed for 1,876 on 276 carries with 20 touchdowns. The rushing yards broke the school record held by

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

since 1995 and was the third best total in the nation behind Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin and Tevin Coleman of Indiana. Pumphrey rushed for 2,018 yards in the 2016 season. In the

2016 Las Vegas Bowl The 2016 Las Vegas Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 17, 2016, at Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada. The 25th annual Las Vegas Bowl was one of the 2016–17 NCAA football bowl games, 2016–17 bowl games concludin ...

, he passed Ron Dayne of

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

for the all-time

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

lead in career rushing yards. The claim was met with mixed reactions, as sportswriters questioned the validity of the record due to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

's omission of bowl statistics accumulated by players prior to 2002.

College statistics

Professional career

Pre-draft

On November 14, 2016, it was announced that Pumphrey had accepted an invitation to appear in the 2017 Senior Bowl. On January 28, 2017, Pumphrey played in the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

and had four carries for 23 rushing yards, two receptions for 15 receiving yards, and returned four punts for a total of 44 yards to help

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

head coach

Hue Jackson Hue Jackson (born October 22, 1965) is an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia State University, a position he has held since 2024. An offensive assistant at both the collegiate and professio ...

's South team defeat the North 16–15. His 82 all-purpose yards finished second among the South team. He was one of 33 collegiate

s to attend the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. Pumphrey completed the majority of combine drills, but opted to skip the short shuttle and three-cone drill. Although he ran the fourth fastest

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

, his 4.48 was seen as a disappointment among scouts. He also weighed in as the lightest among his position group and the fifth shortest. On March 23, 2017, he attended San Diego State's

pro day The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

, along with Damontae Kazee, Nico Siragusa, Calvin Munson, and 10 other teammates. He opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills and the bench press for scouts and team representatives from 29 NFL teams that attended. Pumphrey impressed scouts with his receiving out of the backfield and ability to run during running back drills. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Pumphrey was projected to be a fourth or fifth round pick by the majority of

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

experts and scouts. He was ranked as the 14th best running back prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

Philadelphia Eagles (first stint)

The

selected Pumphrey in the fourth round (132nd overall) of the 2017 NFL draft. He was the 12th running back selected and one of three San Diego State players chosen in the draft in 2017, along with Siragusa and Kazee. On May 11, 2017, the Eagles signed Pumphrey to a four-year, $2.97 million contract that includes a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $575,888. Throughout

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

, he competed against Darren Sproles,

Byron Marshall Byron Marshall (born February 13, 1994) is an American former professional football running back. He played college football for the Oregon Ducks and was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2016. Marshall was also ...

, Wendell Smallwood, and Corey Clement for a role as backup running back. Head coach

Doug Pederson Douglas Irvin Pederson (born January 31, 1968) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who was the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He spent most o ...

named Pumphrey the fourth running back on the Eagles' depth chart to begin the regular season, behind LeGarrette Blount, Sproles, and Clement. On September 15, 2017, he was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

after suffering a torn hamstring in practice. Pumphrey missed his entire rookie season and did not log a snap or carry in 2017. The Eagles won

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. As a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX from 13 years earlier, the game was between the National Football Conferen ...

against the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

41–33, earning Pumphrey his first

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl ring offers a collectible memento for the actual players and t ...

. On September 1, 2018, Pumphrey was waived by the Eagles.

Detroit Lions

On September 5, 2018, Pumphrey was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

of the

. He was released on September 26, 2018.

Philadelphia Eagles (second stint)

On October 23, 2018, Pumphrey was signed to the Eagles practice squad. Pumphrey signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles on January 14, 2019. He was waived during final roster cuts on August 30, 2019.

DC Defenders

Pumphrey was selected by the

of the XFL in the 7th round in the 2020 XFL Draft. He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.

Coaching career

In 2022, Pumphrey joined

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

as a graduate assistant. On February 9, 2023, Pumphrey was hired by

Sacramento State University California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

to serve as the team's running backs coach.

Notes

References

External links

Sacramento State profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pumphrey, Donnel 1994 births Living people American football running backs DC Defenders players Detroit Lions players Philadelphia Eagles players Sacramento State Hornets football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football players Coaches of American football from Nevada Sportspeople from North Las Vegas, Nevada Players of American football from Nevada