Japan: All Mitsubishi Lions sign British RB Samuel Oram-Jones

The All Mitsubishi Lions of Japan’s X-League have signed British running back Samuel Oram-Jones for the 2024 season.

The 5′, 8″, 193 pound Oram-Jones spent part of the 2023 season with the Prague Lions of the European League of Football. Used sparingly in six games he rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries.

In 2022, he participated in the Canadian Football League Global Combine but only seven weeks out of surgery for a broken leg, he was not able to reach his true potential and did not get drafted. In the fall of 2023, he worked out for the International Football Alliance at their combine in Georgia, running a 4.6 laser 40 and 4.0 laser pro shuttle. He was expected to be drafted into the IFA but the league start was postponed until 2025.

He spent the 2021 season on the University of Southern California scout team and was named USC’s Co- Offensive Service Team Player of the Year. He had transferred to USC from Vanderbilt where he was a running back on the scout team as a senior in 2019 (he joined the team mid-season). He had been a running back and special teamer on Durham (England) University’s American football team (2017-19), his first seasons playing the sport.  Durham won the country’s Universities and Colleges Sport National Championship in 2018.

Oram-Jones’ introduction to football came late. He was a member of the McLaren racing cars Young Driver program from the age of eight to 18 and competed against some of the current top drivers in the Formula 1 circuit.

The Mitsubishi Lions kick off their 2024 season on September 1 when they face IBM Big Blue.