Generated 2026-04-20T15:44:45.125Z | 63 quotes from 10 sources
"I feel like their scheme is pretty simple. It's just for us to go out there and fit our gaps and do what we need to do. We've practiced it. We've seen it. It's something different but nothing that scares us at all."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 18, 2024 Indiana football's star players preview first-round CFP game: Here are the memorable quotes | Confidence: 1.00
"When you play against a team that wants to run their quarterback, that means they want to grind it out. This is going to be a physical ballgame to see who outlasts the other, and I know it's going to be us on top."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 18, 2024 Indiana football's star players preview first-round CFP game: Here are the memorable quotes | Confidence: 1.00
"Hopefully we can turn this into like Bama, old Bama"
— Mikail Kamara, Apr 2, 2026 Indiana player trolls new 'Bama' at Hoosiers' pro day | Confidence: 1.00
"Coach Cig and the rest of the staff is really great at developing players, not just developing players, but also recruiting the right guys, who have the work ethic and who have the drive to come in every single day and try to get better. So at the end of the day, this race that we all have as football players is just who wants to get better every single day."
— Mikail Kamara, Apr 2, 2026 Indiana player trolls new 'Bama' at Hoosiers' pro day | Confidence: 1.00
"If I'm doing that on the inside, imagine what can I do just on the edge?"
— Mikail Kamara, Mar 27, 2025 Why Indiana football's Mikail Kamara is perfect fit for new Stud-end role - Yahoo Sports | Confidence: 1.00
"I can go out there and make plays especially with me being an older guy and more of a vet. Coach gives me a little more leeway to go and trust my eye. We are gapped up and disciplined, but he allows me to take my shot and do what I need to do to go make a play."
— Mikail Kamara, Mar 27, 2025 Why Indiana football's Mikail Kamara is perfect fit for new Stud-end role - Yahoo Sports | Confidence: 1.00
"We talked about it a little bit, and thought we could really make a good run to bring a championship here to Bloomington."
— Mikail Kamara, Mar 27, 2025 Why Indiana football's Mikail Kamara is perfect fit for new Stud-end role - Yahoo Sports | Confidence: 1.00
"Once we get the ball rolling everyone is going to know (who we are)."
— Mikail Kamara, Mar 27, 2025 Why Indiana football's Mikail Kamara is perfect fit for new Stud-end role - Yahoo Sports | Confidence: 1.00
"I've seen a lot of things talking about a sophomore slump. That's something that I take pride on. That's not going to happen. It's really just to come back and show we can do it again and again and again and again."
— Mikail Kamara, Mar 27, 2025 Why Indiana football's Mikail Kamara is perfect fit for new Stud-end role - Yahoo Sports | Confidence: 1.00
"Kind of like what he said about the sleeping giant, I just knew last year when we played Maryland, that was kind of the turning point for the program, I think. Once we played them and then we beat Michigan at home, it kind of just started a trend going upward. Then just to kind of have the season that we had last year and then have it end the way that it did, it kind of fueled a lot of the guys that were part of that roster to come back and work even harder throughout the summer, work even harder throughout camp. Then really just take it to them throughout the entire season. I think it brought us a lot of confidence in knowing that we could compete at this level, and we’re 16-0, national champions, so there’s just nothing else you could have dreamt of."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 20, 2026 Watch: IU football Tuesday “Champions Press Conference” with Cignetti and players – The Daily Hoosier (+1 sources) | Confidence: 1.00
"Yeah, I pretty much feel like Coach Cain and then obviously coming from Coach Cig, they pretty much made it so you really care about playing special teams. I feel like special teams is all about effort, it’s all about grit, and it’s just about do you want to get it done or not. I feel like special teams is a huge, huge, huge, huge backbone in winning football games, and I feel like you can have the best offense and the best defense, but if you have a poor special teams, you’re not going to win games. Coach Cain, I’m in the special teams meeting room every single day just watching Coach Cain’s film, watching Daniel Ndukwe’s blocks, watching technique, so when I went out there it wasn’t something that I’ve never practiced before. I kind of just went out there and did stuff that I’ve been taught day in and day out, so it just all came natural."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 20, 2026 Watch: IU football Tuesday “Champions Press Conference” with Cignetti and players – The Daily Hoosier (+1 sources) | Confidence: 1.00
"I think it kind of just starts with effort, starts in the weight room during the winters, the 6:00 a.m. workouts, and then the summer workouts in the hot, grueling sun. I think that’s kind of when you start to realize what type of team you have, the guys that push each other to get one more extra rep, the guys who get on each other for missing the line. I think that’s kind of when the buy-in starts. Once camp hits, that’s just playing football at that point, so everyone does camp. But it’s not just getting through camp, it’s about trying to improve throughout camp so you can hit the season running. Then once you start to win, that momentum just carries and carries and carries. The result just kind of turns out to what we have now."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 20, 2026 Watch: IU football Tuesday “Champions Press Conference” with Cignetti and players – The Daily Hoosier (+1 sources) | Confidence: 1.00
"The players that came over were kind of like the building blocks for everyone else. We were kind of building the culture, and we had a lot of great players and a lot of good coaches. That's kind of how the scheme works."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"The biggest challenge was just staying confident in myself, staying confident in God's plan. I think throughout the process, it kind of made my faith a lot stronger. It made my confidence in myself a lot stronger. At the end of the day, it's all about enjoying the journey and not worrying about the final destination."
— Mikail Kamara, Apr 3, 2026 Indiana Pro Day Q&A: Mikail Kamara hopes Indiana's NFL pipeline can become like 'old Bama' | Confidence: 1.00
"I think the two biggest things was to be confident in myself and not worry what anyone else's opinion is of me. And then the next biggest thing is probably my leadership role. This past year we had a lot of younger guys and a lot of transfers, and everyone kind of looked up to me, so I had to kind of step up into a role that I'm not really comfortable in. That definitely taught me to grow and be more vocal as a leader and be more vocal as a person."
— Mikail Kamara, Apr 3, 2026 Indiana Pro Day Q&A: Mikail Kamara hopes Indiana's NFL pipeline can become like 'old Bama' | Confidence: 1.00
"Oh yeah, it's going to be — hopefully, we can turn this into 'Bama, old 'Bama. Coach Cig and the rest of the staff are really good at developing players, not just developing players but also recruiting the right guys who have the work ethic and who have the drive to come in every single day and try to get better. At the end of the day, this race that we all have as football players is who's willing to come in every day and who's not going to quit."
— Mikail Kamara, Apr 3, 2026 Indiana Pro Day Q&A: Mikail Kamara hopes Indiana's NFL pipeline can become like 'old Bama' | Confidence: 1.00
"We talk about it all the time. We talked about it a month ago. He was like, 'Man, I was sitting in the office and going to take your offer away, look at us now?'"
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"I was drawn to him, it was like an 'it' factor. I knew I was good, he knew I was good. He was still like, we'll take you. We don't need you, but we'll take you. I was like bro, I could come here and dominate."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"You can’t check us. I was like Pops you go play quarterback and I’ll play receiver. We had to show them a little something."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"How about defensive end?"
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"Instead of being a fifth-, sixth-rounder, simply because (scouts) didn't really know me, I didn't have the hype coming into the season like some of the other guys did, I could get the first-round bid basically if I go out there, do what I did last year, do that again next year, which I have no doubts about. So I'm excited for it all."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 2, 2025 Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional | Confidence: 1.00
"I would be sitting in class on my phone watching 1-on-1s of Von Miller. He was my favorite guy back then, and it helped the game slow down."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"There’s nothing. I’m a zero star. I can't lie, I pull it up every year when the draft comes up and they put up guys like Travis Kelce, some of those no star or 3-star guys. When I get drafted, that's what they are going to put up for me."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"We can go down the line right now."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"The next day is worse, the next morning. I couldn’t lift my arms up to the steering wheel to drive."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"When we played Elon, oh boy, they both popped out twice each. I'm like dog, I don't know what to do."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"It was just me and the running back, I put my shoulder down to tackle him and boom it popped out. Two plays after that, I slipped the tackle with a swim move and the other one popped out."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"It was a huge opportunity I couldn't pass up on. I was never 100%, but I was like I would rather get all this experience and thug it out than miss this opportunity."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"I was only showing everybody a snippet of what I could do."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"I'm blessed. The injuries taught me that every single time I get up on that field I go 100%. You never know when it could be taken away. This is practice, lifts, extra work, I got to go 100% every time."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"I want us to win, I want to turn this program around. ... No one really believes in us. People may say they believe in us and they are excited for Cig to be here and they are excited for a new program, but they don't really believe in us. That's the first thing I want to do, I want to put us on the map."
— Mikail Kamara, Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"My goal was to come here to Indiana, really play in the Big Ten, be one-and-done, and leave. That was my goal. I just wanted to come in here and prove that what I did at JMU wasn't a fraud, like, I could do it on the biggest stage."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 2, 2025 Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional | Confidence: 1.00
"I was playing well all season and when my name started really popping was basically after that Michigan State game. I had a million-and-one agents calling my phone, a million-and-one trainers. I had this, that and the third."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 2, 2025 Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional | Confidence: 1.00
"My mindset after this season, despite my decision, after this season I will consider myself a professional. And when I say that, I'm going to be eating like a professional, training like a professional, sleeping, doing all these things like I'm in the NFL, whether I'm in it or not. That's the biggest change I'm going to be making is taking care of my body way better."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 2, 2025 Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional | Confidence: 1.00
"So it's basically the same defensive end package, but I'll be more of what Lanell Carr played. So I'll be a little bit more on the EDGE, a little bit less of that 3-technique, bend-5 era, so I'll be rushing the passer way more. So that's something pretty important to me, especially important to the scouts. So continue to get my sack totals up."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 2, 2025 Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional | Confidence: 1.00
"I think just understanding that this shot is still out there for me to really live my dream, hear my name called by the (NFL) commissioner, that's all the motivation I need going into this offseason."
— Mikail Kamara, Jan 2, 2025 Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional | Confidence: 1.00
"The way that my career was going, I never would have expected to be in the Rose Bowl. Making the change and coming to Indiana is when that hope started to become alive again."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"The biggest thing was that bringing a bunch of G5 guys over (to Indiana) isn’t really going to work. Apparently, it’s worked pretty well."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"It took a little bit. Definitely throughout the offseason, it wasn’t as connected as a unit."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"As we started to win games and everyone started to understand why (Cignetti) is the way he is or why we’re so detailed at our position or in the locker room, I think that is when they started to understand that this is what it takes to win. This is when the buy in started to happen."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"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."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"This year, I feel like we have a ton of players from last year who already know what the deal is. And then the players that Cig recruits, a lot of older guys and guys that kind of know what it takes to win."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"It's just kind of surreal to be in this position. It's fantastic just to know not just that the belief worked out, but all the hard work is paying off."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"Whether it's inspiring youth to come (to Indiana) and play and kind of have something to dream about again, or whether it's just the older people who get to live in whatever dreams that they have for this program, I'm happy to bring joy to all these different people."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"We're not going anywhere anytime soon."
— Mikail Kamara, Dec 31, 2025 From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint - The Hoosier Network | Confidence: 1.00
"You want to play for this guy? (Cignetti) didn't seem like he wanted him. He didn't think Mikail was up to it. He seemed a little snobbish."
— Hassan Kamara (Family), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"That's when he started thinking he could play next level. He started taking it a lot more seriously."
— Hassan Kamara (Family), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"They just weren’t high on the size. If you didn't fit a certain profile for that position, they didn't think you had the ability to play. They liked everything they saw, but thought he needed to be taller."
— Hassan Kamara (Family), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"James Madison was one of the better FCS programs recruiting him. He had come from a winning program, and wanted to continue to be at a winning program."
— Hassan Kamara (Family), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"He went into camp the next year full healthy and was just ready to go, he was walking different and talking different. He didn't doubt himself anymore."
— Hassan Kamara (Family), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"He didn't want to do it at first. He was thinking he might not come back as powerful as he was. We had to convince him it was the right choice and he would come back stronger. He was really down."
— Samantha Kamara (Family), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"I think the one guy that's really upped his game is Kamara. We saw that in the spring. We saw that in fall. He's just playing at another level."
— Curt Cignetti (Coach), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"He was a real skinny guy. But he got his shots in. We had a lot of fun. We were trying to be the best and the goal is still the same today."
— Justice Ellison (Teammate), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"Just very explosive. He was new to playing defensive end, he had been a running back. I knew there was growth potential."
— Mike Shanahan (Coach), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"A great kid, came from a great high school program and was coached hard every day. You could tell he was very serious. He was pretty quiet on his visit, but he was locked in."
— Mike Shanahan (Coach), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"It's definitely something you want to stand tall for. At the end of the day, it's coach Cignetti's program, but as you get to know a kid and their story more so than what's on tape, you want to go to bat for guys that are good fits."
— Mike Shanahan (Coach), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"The year he had last year and how he looks right now is unbelievable. He's just a grinder. He's always in here working on something. I'm just really happy for him."
— Mike Shanahan (Coach), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
"He's a hassle, man. He's a really good defensive lineman. He's probably the guy I have the most trouble. He's just so unpredictable. There's so much to his game, it's so hard to read."
— Carter Smith (Teammate), Aug 23, 2024 IU football's Mikail Kamara earns bragging rights over his doubters | Confidence: 1.00
Curt Cignetti: Mikail's play certainly was a huge play last night where they were punting the ball and we didn't have a block called, we had a return called, but he saw it, felt it and gave it great effort and turned it into a touchdown, a blocked punt touchdown. Context: Praising Mikail Kamara's blocked punt in the championship game, highlighting it as a pivotal moment that resulted in a touchdown. — College Football Playoff Champions Press Conference - Indiana University Athletics (Jan 21, 2026)
Mikail Kamara: (Cignetti) was excited. He said I wasn't a 'cheap date,' that's what he said. Not a cheap date. But he would be able to get all the things that I needed for me to come back, all the things that I wanted. So I'm really happy, I'm excited. My position coach was ecstatic. Context: Kamara recounting his conversation with Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti about his decision to return, including Cignetti's comment and Kamara's reaction. — Star DE Mikail Kamara details return to Indiana NFL Draft goals I will consider myself a professional (Jan 2, 2025)
Mikail Kamara: being 6-0 wasn’t the goal Context: Mikail Kamara commented on the team's aspirations after Indiana football earned bowl eligibility for the first time in four seasons, emphasizing that the goal was to win a national championship rather than just achieving a 6-0 record. — Mikail Kamara announces he will return for final season with Indiana football - Indiana Daily Student (Dec 25, 2024)
Mikail Kamara: the goal was to win a national championship Context: Mikail Kamara stated the ultimate aim of the Indiana football team after achieving bowl eligibility, highlighting that their target was a national championship. — Mikail Kamara announces he will return for final season with Indiana football - Indiana Daily Student (Dec 25, 2024)
Mikail Kamara: real bitter taste Context: Mikail Kamara expressed his feelings about the Hoosiers’ loss to the University of Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff First Round on Dec. 20, as mentioned in his X post. — Mikail Kamara announces he will return for final season with Indiana football - Indiana Daily Student (Dec 25, 2024)
