Rahim Akil Alem, number 84 for the LSU Tiger football team, is possibly one of the best on the Tiger defensive line. Alem is definitely a force to be reckoned with in the SEC West.
Rahim Alem is a 6'3", 263-pound senior, who starts at defensive end of LSU. He was born in New Orleans, LA, to Al and Patti Jones on February 25, 1987.
He grew up in the Crescent City, and went to St. Augustine High School. At St. Augustine High, Alem was a blue-chip defensive end rated the second best recruiting prospect in Louisiana in 2004. He recorded almost 80 tackles and eight sacks during his senior season in high school.
His family relocated to Baton Rouge in 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast, but Rahim was already at LSU for his first year of college. He is majoring in African-American studies at LSU. Upon graduation, he will be one of many student athletes who have received their degrees during the Les Miles era at LSU.
In spring of 2006, Alem legally changed his name to Rahim Akil Alem. His name given at birth was Alfred Marvin Jones Jr, meaning he was named after his father. Al. Rahim's name change was to honor his African-American heritage, and had nothing to do with religious conversion.
Rahim Alem also has a brother on the Tiger football team, Chad Jones, who is a starting safety for LSU. Chad is a Junior who had to move schools midway through his high school career due to the hurricane.
Alem recorded 29 total tackles last season, and appeared in every game. This season, Alem has started every game, and had recorded 16 total tackles. All of these statistics are not including the Tiger loss to Florida in Baton Rouge last weekend.
This season is Rahim Alem's final season as a LSU Fighting Tiger, and looks to make an impact in the SEC all season. Hopefully, this stellar athlete will make an impact in the conference by winning some awards like the Nagurski award, which was won by former tiger Glenn Dorsey in the 2007 season.
If Alem doesn't get any awards, he can always just show off his BCS Champion ring. He is one of many current LSU players that were a part of that Championship team.
LSU suffered their first loss of the 2009 season last weekend to the Florida Gators. The Tigers are off this weekend, and the Auburn Tigers travel to Baton Rouge on Oct. 24th. The game is scheduled for a 6:30 pm kickoff somewhere on the ESPN family of networks, either ESPN or ESPN2 most likely.
This is the second article of a series this season called "Tiger Athlete Spotlight". This series will feature a different athlete in each article who is a current member of any Louisiana State University athletic team.
We're going to send you the most entertaining LSU Football articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
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