Arian Foster
Arian Isa Foster is an American former football player who is a musical artist under the name Bobby Feeno. He played professionally as a running back in the National Football League for seven and a half seasons.
Foster played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, and was signed by the NFL's Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He holds the Texans franchise records for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, and also played for the Miami Dolphins. In the 2010 NFL season, Foster led the league in rushing yards with 1,616, earning his first Pro Bowl selection.Foster announced his retirement from the NFL in 2016.
Early life
Foster was born August 24, 1986, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Carl Foster, a former wide receiver for the University of New Mexico, and Bernadette Sizemore, a secretary for the university. Foster's father signed with the Denver Broncos in 1982, though was released from the team before the start of the season. Foster has four siblings, Abdul, who was also an athlete, running track in high school and in college at Florida A&M, and his sister Christina, his brother Braxton and sister Maria.Foster's mother encouraged him to play football at the age of 7, to the dismay of Foster's father, an ex-wide receiver himself. As a former player at a high level, Carl was not supportive of the idea of his son entering the sport at such a young age. Foster took to the game, telling his elementary school teacher that he intended to become "a star in the NFL." Foster attended Taft Middle School in Albuquerque.
His parents divorced in 2000 while he was attending Valley High School in Albuquerque, and in 2002, he moved to San Diego with his father. Foster competed in football at Mission Bay Senior High School, where he initially played as a linebacker, but became a full-time running back in his junior and senior years. He was Mission Bay's featured running back those years, and led San Diego County in all-purpose yards with 2,500 while compiling 2,093 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns in addition to six scores on kickoff returns his senior year. In a game against Clairemont High School, Foster ran for 321 yards and for his efforts, he was named San Diego Union Tribune All-San Diego Western League Player of the Year, received All-West Region appointment by PrepStar, and also earned All-California Interscholastic Federation honors. He earned a three-star rating from Rivals.com. Then-Tennessee offensive coordinator Randy Sanders and running backs coach Trooper Taylor were impressed by Foster when recruiting in San Diego. Foster committed to attend Tennessee on January 28, 2004.
Foster also competed on the track & field team as a sprinter and high jumper. He had personal-bests of 11.24 seconds in the dash, and had a top-jump of 6'2.5" in the high jump. He was also a member of the 4 × 100 m relay squad.
High school statistics
Note: Incomplete| Season | Team | GP | Rushing Att | Rushing Yds | YPA | Yds/G | TD |
| 2003 | MBHS | 9 | 174 | 1,596 | 9.2 | 177.3 | 17 |
College career
Foster red-shirted his first season at the University of Tennessee, sitting behind Gerald Riggs Jr. and Cedric Houston on the depth chart. He was a three-year starter at running back for the Volunteers.2005 season
In his 2005 redshirt freshman season, Foster was an immediate contributor. He took on a heavier responsibility in the running game later in the season. Foster made his collegiate debut on September 3 against Alabama-Birmingham. On October 1, in a home game against the Ole Miss Rebels, he had his first collegiate touchdown on a one-yard run late in the fourth quarter of the 27–10 victory. On October 22, in a game against #5 Alabama, Riggs suffered a season-ending injury, putting more rushing opportunities onto Foster. On October 29, in a home game against the South Carolina Gamecocks, he had 25 carries for 148 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the narrow 16–15 loss. On November 5, in a road game against the #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, he had 28 carries for 125 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 41–21 loss. In the following game against the Memphis Tigers, he had 28 carries for 132 rushing yards in the 20–16 victory at home. In the next game, he had a commanding individual performance in a 28–24 loss against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Despite the Commodores snapping a 22-game losing streak to Tennessee, he had 40 carries, scored two touchdowns, and his total of 268 all-purpose yards was the third-highest total in school history. In the regular season finale in a road game against the Kentucky Wildcats, he had 114 rushing yards and 44 receiving yards in the 27–8 victory. Overall, in the 2005 season, he finished as the team's leading rusher with 879 rushing yards, five rushing touchdowns, 14 receptions, and 148 receiving yards.2006 season
Foster's sophomore season saw a downturn in production with the emergence of Lamarcus Coker and Montario Hardesty in the backfield. He started the 2006 season with 17 carries for 69 rushing yards and a four-yard receiving touchdown in the 35–18 home victory over the #9 California Golden Bears. In the next two games combined, Foster only carried nine times for 24 rushing yards in a 31–30 victory over Air Force and a 21–20 loss to #7 Florida. Foster suffered through an ankle injury and it ended up costing him two games. He returned on October 7, in a road game against the #10 Georgia Bulldogs, he had 15 carries for 63 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in the 51–33 victory. On October 21, against rival Alabama, he had the go-ahead one-yard rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter of the 16–13 victory. Foster ended the season with 91 carries for 322 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Tennessee's final game of the season was the 2007 Outback Bowl against the Penn State Nittany Lions, in which Foster fumbled with ten minutes remaining deep in Penn State territory. The ball was picked up by cornerback Tony Davis and returned 88 yards for a touchdown, breaking a 10–10 tie; Penn State won 20–10.2007 season
His junior season saw Foster take over as the main running back. In the regular season opener against #12 California, he had 13 carries for 89 rushing yards to go along with three receptions for 20 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the 45–31 loss. In the second game, against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, he had 125 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 39–19 victory at home. Against the #3 Florida Gators at the Swamp, Foster fumbled a left-handed hand-off from injured quarterback Erik Ainge which was returned eighteen yards for a touchdown; Florida won 35–20. On October 6, at home against the #12 Georgia Bulldogs, he had 98 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in the 35–14 victory. In the following game, against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, he had 139 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 33–21 victory. In the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium, he had 91 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown to go along with four receptions for 74 receiving yards in the 41–17 loss. On October 27, at home against the #15 South Carolina Gamecocks, he had 19 carries for 75 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown in the 27–24 victory. On November 3, at home against the Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, he had 20 carries for 100 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 59–7 victory. In the next game, against the Arkansas Razorbacks, he had 83 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, his seventh consecutive game with a rushing touchdown, in the 34–13 victory. Foster surpassed the 1,000-yard mark with a 118-yard performance on 27 carries in a 52–50 win on the road against the Kentucky Wildcats. In addition, he tallied nine receptions for 98 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown in the game. He finished his junior season with 245 carries for 1,193 yards and 12 touchdowns, while also catching 39 passes for 340 yards and an additional two scores. He finished third in the SEC in rushing yards.2008 season
Foster's breakout junior season resulted in a second-round grade from the draft advisory board and led him to consider leaving school. However, head coach Phillip Fulmer persuaded him to stay for his senior season, a decision Foster would later deeply regret. Playing under the third position coach and offensive coordinator of his tenure, Foster was utilized in a rotation following the installation of a new offensive scheme that the Tennessee coaches thought was a better fit for some of the other running backs on the roster. He only had one game with 100 rushing yards, the second game of the season, a 35–3 victory over the UAB Blazers. For his part, Fulmer would attribute Foster's diminished workload to knee and thigh injuries which would later be disputed. In the end, Foster compiled 570 yards on 131 carries with just one touchdown in his senior season.Foster finished his collegiate career as the school's second all-time leading rusher with 2,964 yards, only trailing Travis Henry. His legacy, however, was mixed. He fumbled just five times on a school-record 650 carries, but all of them came at critical moments. His former coach Fulmer has defended Foster regarding these crucial mistakes, saying "There were a couple of fumbles that were untimely that people want to remember; they forget about his full career, about how special he was. He had a couple of fumbles after a couple of big runs. They were costly, but we probably wouldn't have been there without him." Among all players in Tennessee history to reach 1,000 rushing yards, Foster finished second in receiving yards in school history with 742, only trailing Stanley Morgan.