Rudolph “Blaze” Ingram Jr. has been going viral on social media since he was a 6-year-old. The Tampa native is a football and track star that has turned heads with the things he has done at such a young age. Now, he continues to turn heads with his first college football offer from Florida A&M University.
Ingram is expected to be part of the 2029 recruiting class and will surely be a highly sought-after high school recruit.
“I’m overly proud of this for Blaze,” his father, Rudolph Ingram Sr., told Scorebook Live. “It’s because of one thing I know in life as a business owner. I own four companies and I’m actually a sports agent. Consistency is everything. Blaze was named one of the fastest kids in the world at five years old. LeBron James posted about Blaze at 6 years old. From 7 to 11 years old, he’s been posted on ESPN at least 22 times.”
Who Is Blaze?
Ingram has a social media following of 635K on Instagram, 7K on Facebook, and 2K on Twitter. His account is managed by his father. Blaze has caught the eyes of athletes such as LeBron James and Tyreek Hill.
In 2018, Blaze had a first place finish at the AAU track championships in the 100 meters sprint and second place in the 200 meters. His father has reported that Blaze has won over 36 medals for track and 20 of them have been gold medals.
Blaze has been featured on the social media accounts of ESPN and CBS Sports. One of his videos caught the eye of Hill and he offered to race the child phenom.
The Whistle youth sports YouTube channel features a video of Blaze purportedly running 4.21 seconds in the 40-yard dash at 10 years old, and this highly improbable result only adds to the legend of the boy, who reportedly has a 13.48-second 100 meters time.
“To see him be consistent, working and believing in his dreams and his vision is impeccable to me,” Rudolph said. “As a father, you can’t wish for much more.”
Not Alone
College football recruitment is competitive as it has ever been now and that means college coaches are going after recruits at much younger ages. It is no surprise that a college coach has put an early bid in for Blaze’s services. It also is no harm done if the young recruit ends up not living up to the hype.
Blaze has now joined the list of young recruits being offered by colleges before they reach high school.
Havon Finney Jr. was offered by the University of Nevada at the age of 9. Maxwell Young was offered by Illinois at 12. Both youth football players are from the Los Angeles area.
