Cardinals rookie Keaontay Ingram big on studying other running backs, other people

A student of other running backs, Arizona Cardinals rookie Keaontay Ingram is also a student of people of other ethnic backgrounds.

For football, the sixth-round pick out of USC (after transferring from Texas) has looked at a lot of video of now teammate James Conner, the Cardinals' bruising back who is 6-foot-1, 233 pounds. Ingram is close to six feet tall at 221 pounds.

"I studied him a lot, especially coming out of Pitt (college)," Ingram said. "You know, I love to study bigger backs because I kind of label myself that way. But I feel like I've got traits of a smaller back. So I have studied him a little bit. I like his game. I'm ready to come in the room, pick his brain a little bit, you know? And elevate my game."

Longtime NFL running back Adrian Peterson is also a player Ingram has observed closely, another sizable back who grew up about 90 minutes away from Ingram's hometown of Carthage, Texas.

When it comes to outside of football, Ingram has a perspective not often spoken of out loud in NFL facilities, but is still an integral part of being a member of an ethnically and culturally diverse team and league.

"I want to get out in the community. I feel like me having this platform, I've got to be distributive. I feel like that's my job. And I do love mixing different cultures, you know, my Samoan brothers, my Mexican brothers, my Black brothers, white brothers, whatever you want to call it," Ingram said. "I like to pick each other's brains and try to mold them in mine, and just see people's differences and see different people's upbringings. That's just the person I am, so I do like, you know, getting out and being diverse a little bit."

Ingram is part of a group of Cardinals running backs that includes Conner, returning players Eno Benjamin and Jonathan Ward, veteran Jaylen Samuels and undrafted rookie Ronnie Rivers. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury indicated three or four will be on the active roster.

"Just creating competition. Those guys know we have James. He’s the starter," Kingsbury said. "Then we’re trying to figure it out from there, so it is just going to make all of those guys better."

Ingram's role changed with the emergence of other backs at Texas, leading him to transfer to USC. With the Trojans last season, he had career highs of 156 carries for 911 yards.

"A big, physical back. A downhill runner. A good special teamer. A guy that we think can certainly contribute," Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim said. "Thought he had a really nice year this year and a lot of good things to like about him."

With NFL teams largely viewing the running back position as by committee or shared, Ingram has seen the devaluation of the position, even sharing carries at times after transferring to USC with another back, Vavae Malepeai, who was about his same size.

"I feel the disrespect, you know, I just want to go out there and prove that running backs can be a valuable piece in the offense, and can be the edge in the offense that we need to be," Ingram said.

There's no chip on his shoulder, it seems, about not being drafted until the 201st overall pick. Eighteen other running backs were picked ahead of Ingram.

"I feel like every day is motivation for me, you know, just give me an opportunity," Ingram said. "That's what I was looking for. I got that. So now it's just take off and run with it."

Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals rookie Keaontay Ingram ready to use his NFL platform positively