Karan Higdon (born September 8, 1996) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

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 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

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 ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

, twice earning All-Big Ten honors.

Early years

Higdon grew up in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

, 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 Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

College career

As a freshman for

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, 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 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. 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 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. 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

. 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 Fitzgerald D'Andre Toussaint (born May 4, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines and signed with the Baltimore ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, and the first player of any kind to rush for over 1,000 yards since Denard Robinson in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. 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 (August 19, 1934 – May 17, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), from 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later served as ...

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 Tshimanga "Tim" Biakabutuka (born January 24, 1974) is a former American football running back. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1993 to 1995, and was drafted with the eight overall pick in the 1996 NFL draft by th ...

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 annually in Atlanta, Georgia, since December 30, 1968. The first three Peach Bowls were played at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Grant Field on the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech c ...

, in order to prepare for the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

Professional career

Higdon signed with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

as an undrafted free agent following the

. The Texans waived him on August 31 during final roster cuts. On September 1, 2019, Higdon was signed to the Texans

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 ...

. 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 Players of American football from Sarasota, Florida Riverview High School (Sarasota, Florida) alumni American football running backs Michigan Wolverines football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen