Deji Karim broke the SIUC single-season record for all-purpose yards in 2009 and was named Missouri Valley Conference player of the year.

In 2010, after his college career ended, he took his talents to the National Football League.

Karim, a 5-foot-11-inch, 205-pound running back from Oklahoma City rushed for 978 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore at Northeast Oklahoma A&M Junior College prior to transferring to SIU.

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In his freshman year at NEO A&M, Karim rushed for 994 yards and 15 touchdowns and was named honorable mention All-American, according to the Saluki Athletics Website.

In 2007, Karim’s first year at Southern Illinois, he led the Salukis with eight rushing touchdowns averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Karim was SIUC’s third-leading rusher and carried the ball 76 times for 386 yards in the same season.

Karim missed all of the 2008 season because of a knee injury.

While Karim’s injury may have been a setback in his college career, the injury fueled him to have one of the best single-season performances SIUC has ever seen. In 2009, Karim’s senior season, he led Football Championship Subdivision with 1,694 rushing yards and led SIUC to its second consecutive MVC Conference Championship.

The same season, Karim led the Salukis to a No. 1 national FCS ranking for three weeks and to the Elite Eight of the FCS playoffs.

The list of Karim’s senior-year achievements goes on and on. He broke the single-season record for all-purpose yards with 2,339 and was named first-team All-American by four different services, including the Associated Press All-American team.

Karim also placed third for the 2009 Walter Payton Award, which is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in the FCS.

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Karim finished his Saluki career with 2,080 rushing yards, 26 touchdowns, 10 career 100-yard games and averaged 6.58 yards per carry.

After recognizing the potential in Karim, the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted Karim in the sixth round of 2010 NFL Draft with the 180^th overall pick.

In his 2010 rookie season, Karim played in 11 games and rushed for 160 yards on 35 carries. He is now on the second year of his four-year $1.9 million contract according to the Jacksonville Jaguars official website.