Arizona Cardinals

Hightower scored 10 touchdowns during his rookie season, and another 3 in the post season while averaging a meager 2.8 yards per carry. He would rush for a total amount of 399 yards in 2008. Hightower would then become the only Cardinal rookie running back ever to have scored a touchdown in each of his first two games with the franchise. Eventually, he would go on to score 10 regular season touchdowns (13 including the playoffs), setting a Cardinals rookie record. He would score the winning touchdown for the Arizona Cardinals in their last drive of the 2008 NFC Championship Game

NFC Championship Game

The National Football Conference Championship Game is one of the two semi-final playoff matches of the National Football League, the largest professional American football league in the United States. The game is played on the penultimate Sunday in January and determines the champion of the...

 to propel the Arizona Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII

Super Bowl XLIII

Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...

 (the Arizona Cardinals' first).

In the 2009 regular season, despite exactly the same number of carries (143) he was able to improve his previous 399 yards to 598 yards, an improvement which brought his yards per carry up to a solid 4.2.

Hightower would begin the season well by getting a 80-yard rushing touchdown in a game against the Atlanta Falcons. Hightower would get injured during a game against the Seattle Seahawks and would not be able to play in the following game.

In the 2010 regular season, he carried the football 153 times for a total of 736 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry, and scored 5 touchdowns.

Washington Redskins

Hightower was traded on July 31, 2011 to the Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

 in exchange for defensive end

Defensive end

Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...

 Vonnie Holliday

Vonnie Holliday

Dimetry Giovonni "Vonnie" Holliday is an American football defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers 19th overall in the 1998 NFL Draft...

 and a 6th round draft pick in 2012. After starting in five of the Redskins' six games, in which he rushed for 321 yards on 84 carries with two total touchdowns, Hightower was placed on injured reserve

Injured reserve

The injured reserve list is a list of reserved players who are injured and unable to play for a period of time, used most prominently in the National Hockey League and National Football League . It is used because these leagues have a maximum number of players on the team roster, so placing a...

 due to a torn ACL

Anterior cruciate ligament

The anterior cruciate ligament is a cruciate ligament which is one of the four major ligaments of the human knee. In the quadruped stifle , based on its anatomical position, it is referred to as the cranial cruciate ligament.The ACL originates from deep within the notch of the distal femur...

.

External links

• Arizona Cardinals bio