Tag Archives: 2016 doak walker award

NFL, University of Texas

Foreman, D’Onta (2)

Cards: Panini Contenders 2018, Panini Elite 2017 (08/35), Panini XR Jumbo Materials 2017 (20/49), Panini Prestige 2018, Panini Contenders 2018, Panini Luminance 2018 (018/225), Panini Prestige 2018, Score 2017, Donruss Rookie Phenom 2017, Panini Contenders 2017 Draft Picks
Acquired: EBay 2019, IP 2019, Coop Spring Game Kickoff, Chuck E Cheese, IP 2020, Reliable Automotive Grand Opening Kyle, Tx.
See Also: D’Onta Foreman

I had been dying to get D’onta on a few more cards because not only was he a Longhorn, he was a Houston Texan to boot- with quite a few nice cards. When I heard he was going to be in attendance at the Coop Spring Game Kickoff as part of a triple header with Lil Jordan Humphrey and Charles Omenihu, I knew I had to go. Foreman rarely appears in Austin. I mean why should he really when H-Town is his burg?

Anyway, Foreman has a beautiful signature. He was quite accommodating in person asking me about placement and color on the Jumbo Materials card. I told him to just ink it up. It didn’t matter to me if he got it all over the swatch. That to me made it more authentic. He looks really good. I mean he did get in and play last season despite his devastating injury his rookie season.

As the year wore on I had hoped the team would use him as a secret weapon to Lamar Miller, but D’onta saw limited reps, primarily against the Eagles. He did catch two passes for 28 yards and a TD however. With Alfred Blue finally shipped out to parts unknown (Jacksonville actually), it looked like D’onta would finally step up into the primary backup role behind Lamar Miller in 2019, but the Texans decided to completely reboot at the runningback position.

D’onta ended up getting cut, and eventually signed with the Indianapolis Colts, but later was placed on IR after he tore his biceps, and then subsequently received an injury settlement. Currently Foreman is a free agent.

I then got D’Onta later at a Chuck E Cheese of all places on his Panini Select and the Luminance cards. He was ‘fashionably late’ to the event and despite the decently sized line, he was more than happy to sign these two cards for me. I really like the framing of the Select card, and it has a really nice polish to it. The Luminance card has a slight metal tinge to it, reminiscent of those first few years of Playoff back in the early 90s. While I am not a fan of script typefaces, this one pulls it off nicely.

After not being able to attend an XFL game I really wanted to go to, I reloaded and decided to attend a signing in Kyle that featured Ricky Williams, D’Onta Foreman, Marcus Johnson, and Fozzy Whittaker. I got there plenty early. The crown jewel was this Panini Contenders dual card with Ricky and D’Onta that I got signed. Initially it was in doubt that Ricky would show up. Then it was in doubt that Foreman would show up because he was late. Still I managed to get all the cards signed I wanted to.

My friend Mark, who I meet at some of these events, tossed me a few extras he had of Foreman to get signed. I got scared off because D’Onta looked like he wasn’t in a great mood to sign. I had to badger him to sign the Score 17 card, but Mark sent his kids up and got the Panini cards signed for me to close out the lot.

We all got extremely lucky, as this is the last in person event happened, occurring the weekend before the COVID shutdown affected everybody statewide.

NFL, University of Texas

Foreman, D’onta

Card: Panini 2017, Score 2017, Panini Contenders 2017 SC, Panini Contenders 2017 Gameday
Acquired: 2017, EBay. 2017, IP.

2017 was a terrible year for me in both TTM and IP events. I had struck out badly in Houston in November on both Clowney (no show) and Lamar Miller (no outside items). Furthermore I had missed Cedric Benson, and skipped out on a few events just based on a bad feeling. D’onta was originally supposed to sign the Tuesday after his breakout and breakdown game with the Cardinals- but with an Achilles injury doing him in it was postponed indefinitely.  I targeted my birthday as a possible time that they’d reschedule it for, and indeed that was the day. It was a bit late in the day at T-Mobile, but I went ahead and gave it a shot. I hadn’t seen any of my local autograph friends in a while, so I took advantage of the situation to catch up with Nathan.

I got there a little early and was surprised that there was 5-7 people already there waiting. Is the area’s autograph market finally waking up? Anyway things went well and D’onta showed up. The people at the front of the line treated the event like an autograph session and Foreman noticed it as he had a noticeable annoyed look to him. When I got to the table I reached out and shook his hand to start. It broke his current mood and he really perked up. I confirmed the truth about how he showed up at the Houston Texans’ local workout and how that really impressed them, his injury, and then I critiqued his touchdown dance- imploring him to learn about the Electric Slide. I showed him White Shoes dance, and we had a good laugh. He also enjoyed the fact that I introduced myself as ‘the real’ Lamar Miller since I was wearing his teammates’ jersey, and I gave him the sign of approval for humorously sporting Watson’s jersey  before the Cardinals game.

D’onta Foreman exploded onto the scene in Charlie Strong’s final year at Texas in 2016. Things just seemed to click for the young runningback and in his Junior Season, as he set and broke all sorts of Texas records (something you shouldn’t overlook in the company of guys like Ricky Williams and Earl Campbell).  The Doak Walker Award winner, Foreman rushed for 2,028 yards and 15 scores on 323 carries. Scouts loved his overall athletic talent butwere concerned about his blocking in pass protection.

D’onta lasted until the 3rd round of the 2017 NFL Draft. I was already excited that the Texans had selected Deshaun Watson in the first round, but when they came back and took Foreman in the 3rd, I was elated. (Rumor had it the Seahawks with the next pick had targeted him as a quick fix for their runningback corps.) Houston really fell in love with Foreman after he showed up with the local kids for a workout. With incumbent RB Lamar Miller in the lineup, Foreman would spell him from time to time and be used in a variety of packages. D’onta impressed during the preseason, sticking out head and shoulders above the competition he was running against, demonstrating bothhis knack for running with the football and catching passes out of the backfield. I sneakily picked him with my final selection of my fantasy draft and stashed him on my bench.

Foreman had his best game in Week 10 against the Arizona Cardinals. He had 10 carries for 65 yards and his first 2 professional TDs. On his last carry he rumbled 39 yards for a TD, but tore his Achilles as he fell into the end zone. He finished his rookie year with 78 carries for 327 yards (4.2 yards per carry) with 2 TDs, 6 catches for 83 yards, and on injured reserve entering camp for 2018.