NFL star Kareem Hunt gets baptized, wants to 'feel reborn,' after assaulting woman
With the support of his head coach and general manager, star NFL running back Kareem Hunt got baptized on Sunday just months after a video emerged showing him pushing and kicking a female at a Cleveland hotel.
The 23-year-old Hunt, an Ohio native who signed with the Cleveland Browns in February, got baptized at True Vine Baptist Church in Cleveland on Sunday.
According to The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Hunt said that his baptism was the result of him getting closer to religion as he tries to turn his life around following his release from the Kansas City Chiefs last November.
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Having played with the Chiefs during his first two NFL seasons, the pro-bowl running back was cut by the team after a security video surfaced from a downtown Cleveland hotel showing him pushing and shoving a woman during an altercation in a hallway.
“I’m looking forward so I can feel reborn,’’ Hunt was quoted as saying.
To show their support, Browns General Manager John Dorsey and head coach Freddie Kitchens attended the baptism ceremony.
Hunt’s agent, Dan Saffron, posted on Instagram a picture of him, Hunt, Dorsey, and Kitchens at the ceremony. Kitchens was named the team’s new head coach this offseason
“Sunday’s watching my guy @bigreem_3 take steps,” Saffron wrote. “Love the support of his GM and Head Coach.”
Hunt will be suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2019 NFL season due to his altercation at the hotel last June and a physical altercation that occurred at his Cleveland residence last February.
The young athlete rushed for 1,327 yards and eight touchdowns in his rookie season in 2017. He was on his way to putting up similar numbers in 2018 before he was released shortly after the surveillance video was released by TMZ.
The Chiefs at the time explained that Hunt was cut because he “was not truthful” when discussing the hotel incident with team officials.
Last week, Hunt assured the Browns and their fanbase that he can be trusted.
“Day by day, I'm just making the best decisions at the time and place,” Hunt said during his first press appearance since signing with the team in February. “And doing everything I can and prevent something like that from happening again.”
Hunt told reporters that he promised Dorsey, the man who drafted Hunt in 2017 when he was the general manager of the chiefs, that he has changed.
“I told him, ‘You can trust me,’” Hunt explained. “I've got to earn his trust, and I've got to earn everybody's trust in the whole organization.”
Hunt also stressed that it was his childhood dream to play for the Browns.
“I'm not willing to mess that up,” he vowed.
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