Avon Cobourne

Infobox CFL player
Name=Avon Cobourne
team=Montreal Alouettes


ImageWidth=
Caption=
status=Active
import=yes
position1=Running back
number=6
College=West Virginia
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1979|3|6
Birthplace=Camden, New Jersey
Height_ft=5
Height_in=8
Weight_lbs=200
NFLDraftedYear=2003
NFLDraftedRound=Undrafted
playing_years=2003-2004
2004
2005
2005-present
playing_teams=Detroit Lions
(NFL Europe) Cologne Centurions
Miami Dolphins
(CFL) Montreal Alouettes
career_highlights=
CFLAllStar=
Awards=
Honors=
Records=
* All-time leading rusher at WVU
CFL=812
PFR =CoboAv00
NFL =COB794336

Avon Cobourne (born March 6, 1979 in Camden, New Jersey) is a football running back in the Canadian Football League. He currently plays for the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, in which he just signed a contract extension in January 2008. He was a running back for West Virginia University from (1999-2002) before entering the NFL.

High School Years

Cobourne attended Holy Cross High School in Delran, New Jersey, and was a student and a letterman in football. In football, he rushed for 1400 yards and 32 touchdowns as a junior.

College career

Freshman season

Cobourne entered WVU right after Amos Zereoue, their star running back from 1996 to 1998, left early for the NFL. He immediately started the 1999 season and never looked back.

As a freshman, Cobourne ranked 13th in the NCAA in rushing with 1,139 yards first in the Big East, and was the top leading freshman rusher in the nation. Cobourne also made 1st-team all-Big East and broke Zereoue's freshman rushing yardage record at West Virginia. Cobourne rushed for 142 yards in only three quarters against Miami (Ohio) and 141 yards against Rutgers. His best performances of the season though came against Virginia Tech, whose defense was ranked #1 in the nation against the run, when he ran for 133 yards and against Pitt, when he rushed for a Mountaineer Field record of 210 yards, which was the best single-game performance for a WVU-freshman.

ophomore season

As a sophomore in 2000, Cobourne was "Athlon" magazine's third running back in the nation in the preseason. Cobourne again finished in the top 20 in the nation in rushing and earned second-team all-Big East honors. Cobourne only totaled 1,028 yards with 6 TDs that season, both lower than his freshman output, but he was plagued by injuries during the season. He rushed for 132 yards and a TD against Boston College, 166 yards against Syracuse, and then 117 yards against Rutgers before leaving the game with an irritated hip joint. His best performance was in coach Don Nehlen's final game as Mountaineer-coach against Ole Miss in the Music City Bowl when he rushed for 125 yards in the win.

Junior season

In Cobourne's junior year, he really broke out. Cobourne was a pre-season second-team all-Big East selection and started the season by rushing for 169 yards against Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The game was highlighted with a career-long 60 yard run. Cobourne finished the season 14th in the nation rushing with a career-high 1,298 yards and 9 TDs. The season was his third consecutive of gaining over 1,000 yards. Cobourne was named team MVP also and was the only player to rush for over 100 yards against the National Champs, the Miami Hurricanes (132). Cobourne started the season out with a 173 yard performance against Ohio, followed by a 181 yard performance against Kent State. He then rushed for 128 yards against Maryland and then totaled four TDs in two quarters against Rutgers along with 147 yards. He then finished the season with four consecutive 100-yard games. He earned second-team all-Big East honors to end the season.

enior season

Going into Cobourne's senior season, he was one of the top prospects for the 2002 Heisman Trophy Race. Although Cobourne did not win the award, he set a school record of most rushing yards in a season with 1,710 yards. The record was broken in the Mountaineers' 2006 season by Steve Slaton, who some fans consider is greater than both Cobourne and Zereoue only as a junior. Cobourne also set a career-high scores with 17 TDs. He rushed for 260 yards and 2 TDs in a win against ECU early in the season, and then rushed for 175 yards and a score in a loss to Miami. His 260 yards against the Pirates was a career-high.

He ended his career with the all-time Big East Conference and WVU rushing record with 5,164 rushing yards, breaking Zereoue's previous record. In all of his four seasons, Cobourne rushed for over 1,000 yards, including his redshirt-freshman season.

Cobourne, Amos Zereoue, and Steve Slaton are often considered the greatest backs in school history. Although Slaton did not surpass Cobourne's career rushing record, he did break numerous school records and achieved greater national attention than Zereoue or Cobourne. Zereoue is often considered the greatest back, due to breaking the school rushing record in only three seasons, rather than the four it took for Cobourne to break Zereoue's mark.

Pro career

NFL

Cobourne was signed to the Detroit Lions squad in 2003 after being undrafted. Cobourne played in seven games, gaining 27 yards on seven carries, returning seven kickoffs for 123 yards, and catching four passes for 30 yards. In 2004, Cobourne was moved to the Lions practice squad.

During the 2004 NFL season, Cobourne was allocated to the NFL Europe Cologne Centurions. Cobourne totaled 525 yards on 117 carries in Europe.

Cobourne signed with the Miami Dolphins for the 2005 NFL season, but never played. Cobourne was on the roster along with fellow-Mountaineer Kay-Jay Harris, who played halfback as well.

CFL

Cobourne then left the National Football League for the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. Through Cobourne's first season, he totaled 21 yards on seven attempts and 3 fumbles. He also totaled 14 yards on two catches and led the team on special teams tackles with 21. Cobourne also had the league's longest missed field goal return at 95 yards. [ [http://en.montrealalouettes.com/index.php?module=roster&func=display&ros_id=812 Montreal Alouettes :: Official site of the Montreal Alouettes] ]

In his second year for the Alouettes, 2007, Cobourne played backup to Jarrett Payton, the son of NFL legend Walter Payton. While also playing linebacker, Cobourne became one of the league's most feared returners during an exhibition game against the Toronto Argonauts. With five seconds left before halftime, and the score 11-7 Toronto, Cobourne returned a missed field goal for 111-yards to make the score 14-11 Montreal at halftime. The play was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter as the "Teamwork Play of the Week". [ [http://en.montrealalouettes.com/index.php?module=newser&func=display&topicnum=&nid=17395&writer=0 Montreal Alouettes :: Official site of the Montreal Alouettes] ] However, shortly after Cobourne suffered an ankle injury that took him out for one game. The next game after the injury, Cobourne rushed for 33 yards on seven attempts while backing up former college rival Payton (who played at Miami; versus Cobourne's WVU). [http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/article.jsp?content=20070727_115741_2984] Cobourne finished third on the team in special teams tackles.

After the 2007 season, Cobourne signed an extension with the Alouettes in January, 2008.

In 2008, after an injury to starting running back Jarrett Payton during the preseason, Cobourne inherited the starting job for the first game of the season against the Hamilton Tiger Cats. Cobourne rushed for 107 yards and 1 TD on 12 attempts and caught 6 passes for 55 yards. Week 2, Cobourne rushed for 89 yards and 1 TD on 17 carries and caught 10 passes for 96 yards. After these 2 performances, the Alouettes decided to name Cobourne the starter for the rest of the season and cut Jarrett Payton. The first half of the season has him leading the league in rushing with 715 yards and, when combined with his 463 yards receiving, puts him on a record pace to become the first player in league history to register 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season. [cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com/article/481783|title=Avon calling on CFL's record book|last=Ralph |first=Dan |date=2008-08-20|publisher=Toronto Star|accessdate=2008-08-20]

Notes

External links

* [http://en.montrealalouettes.com/index.php?module=roster&func=display&ros_id=812 Montreal Alouettes profile]