Devon Kennard (born June 24, 1991) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent, and an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. In 2018, Kennard signed with the Detroit Lions. He was team captain in 2018 and 2019 and nominated for the Walter Payton Man of The Year Award in 2019. He played college football at USC and graduated with an undergraduate and master's degree in Communication Management.
High school career
As a sophomore in 2006, Kennard recorded 81 tackles and seven quarterback sacks. During his junior year, he had 111 tackles and sacks, helping the Desert Vista Thunder to the Class 5A Division I title game. For his senior year, Kennard was expected to play both fullback and tailback on offense for the Thunder in addition to his defensive duties, until top tailback Marcus Washington, an Arizona State recruit, returned from a stress fracture in his leg.
In Desert Vista's 21–20 victory over Chandler High School, Kennard suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, causing him to miss the rest of the football season. On the season Kennard had 16 carries for 132 yards with five touchdowns. Defensively, he had 18 tackles and sacks while facing double and triple teams. He played in the 2009 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Recruited by over forty schools nationwide, Kennard initially considered Arizona State, California, Florida, Miami, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, UCLA, and USC. He eventually cut his list to California, Texas and USC. Kennard attended summer camps with USC following his sophomore and junior seasons in high school, and grew close to USC-commit Matt Barkley. At one point, Barkley and Kennard were ranked #1 and #2 for overall prospects in the class of 2009 by Rivals.com. He was rated the No. 1 defensive prospect by a CSTV analyst, and the top defensive end by ESPN.com.
Kennard called the recruiting process "a business", telling his local paper, "They're trying to go after good players. They think you're a good player, and that's an honor, but they think somebody else is a good player, too. If you get all caught up, your head is going to get huge. I consider the whole process a business. It's a business on my end and on theirs. They've got to try to get the best players and I've got to try to go to the best program for me." Kennard announced his decision to attend USC at press conference on January 27, 2009.
College career
In his true freshman year at USC, Kennard began the season as a backup defensive end, but by midseason was seeing key action primarily in pass rushing situations. He then was moved to strongside linebacker. Appearing in 12 games and starting in five, he had 34 tackles, including 2 for losses, plus 3 deflections, 1 fumble recovery and 1 forced fumble. He made the 2009 Pac-10 All-Freshman first-teams by ESPN and Sporting News, and won USC's John McKay Award.
In 2010, Kennard was moved and started at a third position, middle linebacker, where he played in all thirteen games, with games starts, and had 72 tackles, including 7 for losses with 2 sacks. Kennard moved back to defensive end for the 2011 season, where he played in all twelve games, with five starts, and 29 tackles, including 4 for losses (with 2 sacks, one which resulted in a safety). Kennard sat out the 2012 season with a torn chest muscle.
In 2013, Kennard started all thirteen games at outside linebacker, recording 60 tackles and team-highs of 13.5 tackles for loss, nine sacks, and ten quarterbacks hits. He made the All-Pac-12 Defensive Team and was named a Lott Trophy Finalist.
Kennard graduated from the University of Southern California with an undergraduate degree in Communications and a master's degree in Communication Management, with a focus in business management. He completed his undergraduate degree in 3 years, his master's in 1.5 years, and maintained a 3.8 GPA.
Professional career
On December 12, 2013, it was announced that Kennard had accepted his invitation to play in the East-West Shrine Game. On January 18, 2014, Kennard recorded two solo tackles as part of Romeo Crennel's West team that lost 23–13 to the East in the 2014 East-West Shrine Game. Kennard attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and completed all of the combine and positional drills.