Allen Pinkett is a former professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player who played running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 for six seasons for the Houston Oilers. He grew up in the Sterling, Virginia

Sterling, Virginia

Sterling, Virginia is a census-designated place in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population as of the 2010 Census was 27,822.It is located northwest of Herndon, east of Ashburn, and west of Great Falls, and includes part of Dulles International Airport and the former AOL corporate headquarters...

 area and attended Park View High School there in the early 1980s.

Playing career

Pinkett was a two-time All-American at Notre Dame. In 1985, he was eighth in the Heisman balloting. He was Notre Dame's career rushing leader with 4,131 yards until Autrey Denson broke his record in 1998, with 4,318 yards. Pinkett was the first Notre Dame player ever to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. He had 1,179 in 1983, 1,268 in 1984 and 1,176 in 1985. He remains the Irish career scoring leader with 53 touchdowns, including 49 rushing. He is tied with Vagas Ferguson (1976–1979) for the most rushing TDs in a single season. Pinkett had 17 TDs in 1984 and Ferguson had 17 in 1979. Pinkett scored 4TDs against Penn State at Happy Valley on November 12, 1983 and scored 3 against the Nittany Lions at Notre Name Stadium on November 17, 1984.

In addition to playing for the Houston Oilers, he played one year for the New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....

.

Post-playing career

He is currently working for Interstate Restoration, an emergency restoration and reconstruction company, as a National Account Manager.

Pinkett is currently the color commentator

Color commentator

A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...

 for Notre Dame's football games broadcast by ISP Sports

ISP Sports

IMG College, is a sports marketing company formed from the acquisition of Host Communications in 2007 and ISP Sports in 2010.ISP Sports was founded in 1992 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina providing sports marketing and broadcast services for collegiate athletics across the United States. In...

. In 2010, he split play-by-play partners with Don Criqui

Don Criqui

Don Criqui is an American sportscaster, currently employed as a play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports. Criqui's duties include occasional television coverage of National Football League games, women's and men's college basketball, occasional college football and radio play-by-play of ISP Sports'...

, who did home Notre Dame's football games, and Dick Enberg

Dick Enberg

Richard Alan "Dick" Enberg is an American sportscaster. He currently provides play-by-play for telecasts of San Diego Padres baseball on 4SD, following a long career calling various sports for such networks as NBC, CBS, and ESPN...

, who did road Notre Dame's football games.