Indiana DL Mikail Kamara’s time on the gridiron has always remained an anomaly. From being a zero-star recruit to blocking Miami’s punt for Indiana in the National Championship game, Kamara couldn’t have thought of all of it in his wildest dreams. He persisted, believed in God, and finally scripted his history. But even after his Natty heroics, he was snubbed by the NFL Scouting Combine. Kamara isn’t worried, though; he is turning towards God again and trusting his talent.

“God always knows how to make a story sweeter!” Kamara wrote on X. “What is meant for you WILL find you, even if it’s between two mountains. Have peace in that.” Kamara, along with Hoosiers’ RB Kaelon Black, is among Indiana’s two veteran players not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine this year. Considering the performances Kamara has put in at Indiana, he should have been a ‘no-brainer’ decision at the Combine.

Kamara, in his two years with the Hoosiers, has compiled 12 sacks and was one of the crucial pieces in the Hoosiers’ scripting national history. In the 2024 season, the 6’1″ and 265 lb DL notched 47 tackles and 10 sacks. He led the FBS with 73 QB pressures and earned a stellar 86.7 PFF grade, which ranked him as the fourth-best edge rusher in the Big 10. Coming back in the 2025 season, expectations were high for Kamara.

The Hoosiers DL, in turn, didn’t pay much heed to the expectations and left everything to God. “The confidence kind of comes from God, and then the second piece of it is the work that I put in that no one really sees,” Kamara said before the 2025 season. “The only way for you to see that future is to manifest it and talk to God about it. That’s kind of always been my thing.”

Kamara’s performance in the 2025 season declined, and he recorded only 34 tackles and 2 sacks. Despite a dip, the DL’s skills were never doubted, and he even earned an honorable mention on the All-Big Ten team from coaches’ panels and conference media. He also managed to lead the Big 10 with 59 pressures. But scouts noticed Kamara’s temporary slump and snubbed him from this year’s Scouting Combine. This isn’t the first time, though, that Kamara has had to face such a roadblock in his career.

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Coming in as a high school recruit, the Ashburn, Virginia, native was not even graded on the On3 and 247 Sports lists and was recruited by only a handful of FBS programs. All the Hoosiers DL did was keep his head down, work hard, train with the coaches at Stone Bridge High School, and finally help his team finish runner-up in the Virginia High School League both his senior and junior years. Not many noticed, but one coach determined to create history did.

Mikail Kamara already knows how to rise from adversity

Mikail Kamara came to James Madison as the first commitment of Curt Cignetti’s 2020 class. The Virginia native started all 6 games for JMU in the shortened COVID-19 season. But he ended up redshirting in 2021 after he suffered a season-ending injury. Only in 2022 did playing time come Kamara’s way, and he made the most of it swiftly. In just five appearances, Mikail notched 14 tackles and 4 sacks, making way for an illustrious career ahead.

When the 2023 season came, Kamara became unstoppable and totaled 53 tackles along with 7.5 sacks. Thereafter, he followed Cignetti to Indiana with JMU’s 13-player contingent, and the rest is history.

“The way that my career was going, I never would have expected to be in the Rose Bowl,” Kamara said ahead of the Alabama game in 2025.

“There’s talent everywhere. You’ve just got to have either the right coaches or the right spotlight put on the players. We always talk about the numbers. The five stars and four stars, and that stuff really means nothing,” Kamara detailed further. Just like his zero-star recruit status meant “nothing” in his college career. Similarly, Kamara’s Combine snub is irrelevant for him to excel in the NFL.

The Hoosiers’ #6 boasts clocking the 40 in just 4.80 seconds and has been dubbed a ‘dark horse’ candidate. In terms of Kamara’s few shortcomings, his frame is highlighted along with his injury issues and age. But those things would rarely matter on the field, given the type of explosiveness he shows, and we can expect him to shut down much of the criticism when Indiana’s pro day comes to Bloomington.