Aggie Football Legend: Ja'Mar Toombs

TOOOOOOMBS!

It amazes me that I still hear that call during Saturday afternoons at Kyle Field. Sadly, anyone who is Class of '05 or younger would only know his name if they followed Aggie football prior to their arrival here at A&M.

Just like any good story, Ja'Mar's tale in Aggieland had it's ups and downs.

Let's start in the beginning....1997-1998. Ja'Mar was a highly recruited tailback starring at Kilgore High School in Kilgore, Tx. He was so highly touted that on consecutive nights John Cooper (Ohio State), Bobby Bowden (FSU), and R.C. Slocum visited him and his mother at their house. Initially, Ja'Mar pledged his services to Mr. Bowden's Florida State Seminoles but then at the last minute changed his mind and signed with R.C. and the Aggies in order to allow his mother to see him play every week.

Ja'Mar stepped onto campus in 1998 knowing that D’Andre Hardeman would be the starting fullback, blocking for Dante Hall and Sirr Parker. After the Ags fell short in the season opener to #2 Florida State, 23-14, and then handled Louisiana Tech, 28-7, word came out that Hardeman was academically ineligible. The 262 lb. freshman, Toombs, was asked to step in and take over.

He didn't get many carries or yards in his first few games but then came his coming out party....the school's first official "Maroon Out Game" as A&M hosted #2 ranked Nebraska.

Ja'Mar carried the ball 10 times for 110 yards and a TD. Included in those numbers was a 71-yard rumble that started on the Aggies' own 28 yard line....he was one yard short of the TD but Dante Hall punched it in on the next play. The Aggies upset the Huskers 28-21 in what was at the time considered by many as the biggest win in Aggie history.

The next week at Baylor Ja'Mar rumbled his way to another 49 yards and a TD....then another 52 yards against #25 texas tech....and another 111 yards at Oklahoma State....50 more against OU at Kyle Field. He was finally slowed down by #13 Mizzou only picking up 14 yards on 6 carries. Regardless, the Ags kept on winning, pulling their season record to 10-1 with a #6 ranking.

Then 2 weeks later....after the last Bonfire burned....Ja'Mar was completely held in check against texas tallying only 4 yards on 4 carries as the Ags were upset by an unranked longhorn team led by that season's Heisman winner, Ricky Williams, and his 259 rushing yards.

Even after losing to texas the Ags won the Big XII South and went on to play the #1 team in the nation & the Big XII North Champs, Kansas State, for the Big XII Championship. This day was not Ja'Mar's day. Dante Hall and Sirr Parker shocked the world with a combined 143 yards rushing and Parker grabbed a 32 yard slant pass that he took to the house as the game winner in 2OT to complete the incredible upset.

Next up for the #8 Ags was #3 The Ohio State Buckeyes in the Sugar Bowl. Toombs led the way rushing with 62 yards on 10 carries in a losing effort as OSU won 24-14.

Toombs finished his freshman season with 422 yards on 86 carries (4.9 yd/carry) and 3 TDs.

Ja'Mar came into 1999 looked at as an integral part of the offense after his freshman season. He didn't disappoint picking up 40 yards and a TD for the #6 ranked Aggies in their season opener against La-Tech. In G2 v. Tulsa Toombs rumbled into the end zone two more times and then picked up 94 yards v. Southern Miss in the third game. The Ags lost for the first time of the season against texas tech and Ja'Mar didn't help matters with 1 yard on only 2 carries.

Over the next five games Ja'Mar picked up 240 yards and a TD against Baylor, Kansas, OU, Oklahoma State and Nebraska as the Ags went 3-2 over the span.

Ja'Mar always wanted to move back to his high school position of tailback and finally got his chance as the team stomped Mizzou behind his 71 yards and 3 TDs.

He continued to lineup as the tailback during a huge upset in the rivalry game against #5 texas (the Bonfire game) where he once again came up with big numbers in a big game....126 yards and 2 TDs in what was the most emotional game in Aggie history. It was also the first Aggie football game I ever watched and was one of the main reasons I chose to work so hard to get into A&M.

The Ags finished the regular season up and headed to San Antonio for an Alamo Bowl match up with Joe-Pa's Penn State.

LaVar Arrington (#11) helped R.C. Slocum come to the realization that Ja'Mar is much better as a fullback than a tailback due to his lack of breakaway speed.

Toombs was held to 70 yards on 19 carries as the Ags were shut out by the Nittany Lions 24-0.

Luckily for the Ags in 2000 we had a freshman running back, Richard Whitaker, who could fill the RB position allowing Ja'Mar to move to the fullback position.

Ja'Mar finished his sophomore campaign with 147 carries for 583 yards (4.0 yd/carry) and 9 TDs.

The months in between the '99 and '00 season were not good ones for Ja'Mar off the field. He was arrested in February for driving under the influence. Not only was this incident a big problem on it's own but since he had been arrested the previous May for possession of a small amount of marijuana it violated his probation from that offense. He spent 4 days in jail and was put on a 10pm curfew effective through the end of 2001.

I stepped foot onto campus at this time and was quickly swept up in the fever surrounding Aggie football here. Our first game was against the fabled Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend. Looking back on it, not going to that game is the biggest regret that I have from my time here at A&M. Instead of driving to Indiana, I drove home to Houston and watched the game with my folks. With Ja'Mar no longer the feature back in the offense he only had 9 carries for a total of 12 yards. The Ags lost to the Irish in the opener.

Over games #2-7 Ja'Mar had 41 carries for only 88 yards but he had 8 TDs. Toooooooombs became a battle cry for virtually all short yardage situations, especially once the Aggies got inside the opponent's 5 yard line.

On October 28th the #8 Kansas State Wildcats came into Kyle Field and in yet another big game, Ja'Mar led the Aggies to victory with 89 yards and 3 TDs on 24 carries.

The following week against Oklahoma State Toombs picked up 41 yards and another TD running his season total up to 12.

After OSU the Aggies took on #1 ranked Oklahoma at Kyle Field. It was one of the most amazing games I've ever seen. Ja'Mar etched his name into Aggie Lore forever in the 4th quarter with THE most amazing run I've ever seen.

The Aggies were leading OU by a field goal and had the ball on OU's 27 yard line with a 4th and one decision to make. In my mind there wasn't a decision to be made and I let R.C. know what I was thinking...."TOOOOOOOOOMBS!"

R.C. listened and handed off to big #5 who ran 27 yards while carrying 3 Sooners hanging off of his body falling into the end zone in miraculous fashion.

I insist that if you have not seen this play in any other fashion that that .GIF you are more than welcome to email me and I'll get you a copy of the video clip for you to watch in all it's glory.

Anyways, Ja'Mar finished the game with 72 yards on 18 carries with 2 huge TDs.

Unfortunately, with less than 5 minutes left in the game down by 4 points R.C. did not listen to my yell of "TOOOOOOOMBS!". We attempted to pass the ball on 3rd and Goal and then again on 4th and Goal from the 3 yard line both times....we turned the ball over on downs....Ja'Mar averaged 4.0 yards per carry on the day.

The team had a week off before traveling to Austin for the big rivalry game against the #5 longhorns. During this time there were some words exchanged through the media between texas' D.D. Lewis and Ja'Mar. Lewis said that Toombs was just a big guy and that if you hit him in the mouth he'll fold. Ja'Mar responded him that "One guy hit me in the mouth, and I think he got a concussion," referring to Ja'Mar's lick on OU safety Brandon Everidge in his previous game. Everidge couldn't keep his feet under him when the trainers came out and then wobbled off the field.

Unfortunately, this was one of the few big games that Toombs didn't come up huge in. He finished with 51 yards and 0 TDs but he only had his number called 13 times as we threw the ball 43 times. The Ags lost by a pretty strong margin.

The Ags finished the regular season with a 7-4 record and were accepted to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. to play Mississippi State on New Year's Eve. Boy was that a crazy game. I wanted to go but my old man wouldn't let me drive to Shreveport because of a huge freeze that East Texas and Louisiana were experiencing. It was snowing during the game (it's now remembered as the "Snow Bowl" here in Aggieland) and conditions were terrible.

Apparently Ja'Mar likes the snow. He carried the ball 35 times for 193 yards and 3 TDs. He accounted for 56% of the Aggie's total offense. Unfortunately we couldn't stop MSU's running game either as they ran for 246 yards on the ground.

The game went into OT with the score knotted at 35-35. On the first play of the overtime Ja'Mar rumbled 25 yards for the TD putting the Ags up 41-35. The place was going nuts and so was my house (we had some friends over for the game and for New Year's).

Terrence Kitchens lined up in the wet, snowy tundra for the extra point which, in a crazy turn of events, was blocked by Willie Blade and recovered by Eugene Clinton who then pitched it to Julius Griffith at midfield who returned it all the way for a defensive PAT.

The Ags still led 41-37 but as MSU took the field all the wind was gone from the Ag's sails. They scored a TD on three plays giving the Bulldogs a 43-41 victory.

We didn't enjoy celebrating the beginning of 2001 that night.

This was to be the last time Aggie fans yelled out TOOOOOOOMBS for the man who wore #5.

Toombs finished his junior season with 355 yards on 117 rushes tallying a team high 14 TDs. His career numbers finished up at 350 carries for 1,360 yards (3.9 yd/carry) and 26 TDs.

Ignoring Coach Slocum's advice; Ja'Mar forfieted his senior season and declared himself eligible for the draft but was not selected.

"I gave him my opinion, and I'm sure he considered that along with advice from other people, to make a decision he feels is in his best interest," said Slocum. As it turns out, he reported to the NFL Combine weighing 20+ pounds more than his 255-260 playing weight.

Toombs was no longer able to play at A&M and now not only did he have to figure out how to support his 3 children but he had a car note to pay on the brand new black Cadillac Escalade that he purchased for himself prior to the draft (it was pretty fancy looking).

"There were just too many questions marks about him," said one NFL draft expert. "Many people feel he can play at this level, but you wonder about his commitment when he shows up overweight and disinterested. He will have to start from scratch to rebuild his reputation, but the simple fact is he should have returned to school for his senior year."

Ja'Mar didn't get one single invitation to training camp for any NFL teams (and to this day still hasn't) but he eventually (April 19, 2002) signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He had 3 carries for 18 yards (long of 16 yards) and at least one reception for 9 yards and a TD in his pre-season stint with the Eskimos. Ja'Mar was released on June 21st after the second pre-season game.

Ja'Mar signed on with Jerry Jones' Arena Football team, the Dallas Desperados, before the 2003 season (January 2nd, 2003). He plays RB/LB for the Desperados and was named to the 2003 All-Rookie team, despite missing 7 games, as he rushed for 69 yards and 5 TDs on 21 carries while making 8 tackles and a sack. He set the franchise record with 22 yards in a game in his AFL debut. At the time of his signing his weight had risen to 295 lbs.

After having gall-bladder surgery and intense conditioning during the off-season, Ja'Mar reported to the Desperados prior to the '04 season weighing 255 lbs....his mid-season playing weight from his days in Aggieland. He rushed for 47 yards and 6 TDs on 16 attempts while picking up 44 more yards through the air on 4 receptions. Defensively, Ja'Mar had 16 total tackles, a safety, and a FG block.

Currently, Ja'Mar is substitute teaching and serving as an assistant coach for Bishop Lynch HS in Dallas while he is awaiting the 2005 Desperados season to begin in January (the Dallas Morning News had a great article about Ja'Mar last week--registration is free).

It's good to see that Ja'Mar is trying to make something positive happen for himself after making some big mistakes over the years.

Boy howdy, we sure miss TOOOOOOOOOOMBS here in Aggieland.