Early years

Bernard was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He began playing football for the local tackle football league, the Boca Jets. He played high school football at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was teammates with Florida State safety Lamarcus Joyner. While in high school, he was ranked the No. 2 running back in Florida by the Orlando Sentinel and the No. 12 running back in the United States by Rivals.com. He is the younger brother of former Oregon State running back Yvenson Bernard.

Bernard is the son of Haitian immigrant parents, who own a dry cleaning business in Boca Raton, Florida.

Bernard was recruited by many schools and first committed to Notre Dame, but ultimately decided on the University of North Carolina.

Name	Home town	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Giovani Bernard RB	Davie, FL	St. Thomas Aquinas	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	196.5 lb (89.1 kg)	4.5 s	Jan 28, 2010
	Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 79
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 94, 13 (RB) Rivals: 186, 14 (RB) ESPN: 16 (RB)
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2010 North Carolina Football Commitment List". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2012-2-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help) "North Carolina College Football Recruiting Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved 2012-2-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help) "North Carolina Tar Heels: ACC Conference: 2010 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2012-2-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help) "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved 2012-2-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help) "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2012-2-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

College career

Bernard enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and played for the North Carolina Tar Heels football team from 2010 to 2012. During the third day of practice, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee after trying to cut away from a defender and redshirted the 2010 season.

Bernard recovered from the injury and became the starting tailback for the Tar Heels in the 2011 college football season. He became the first North Carolina running back to rush for at least 100 yards in five straight games since Ethan Horton in 1984. His season-high came against Georgia Tech on September 24, 2011, rushing for 155 yards. In mid-October 2011, Bernard was added to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, presented annually to the best player in college football. During the 2011 regular season, Bernard's 1,222 rushing yards ranked 20th among NCAA Division I FBS players. Bernard also had 326 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games. Bernard was the first running back to eclipse the 1,000-yards plateau at North Carolina since Jonathan Linton did it in 1997. He was also the top freshman running back in the nation in yards per game that season.

In the first year of head coach Larry Fedora's spread offense in the 2012 season, Bernard increased his rushing yards per game, average yards per carry and receiving yards. He also returned punts for the first time in his college career. On October 27, 2012, Bernard returned a punt 74 yards against NC State in the last 30 seconds of the game to break the tie and win the game. He led Carolina in scoring for the second year in a row and averaged 198.1 all-purpose yards per game, third in the country behind two receivers. The head coaches in the ACC voted Bernard to All-ACC first-team and Bernard was second in player-of-the-year and offensive player-of-the-year voting. He also won the CFPA Punt Returner Trophy for the 2012 season.

College career statistics

Year	GP-GS	Rushing								Receiving						Punt Returns
		Att	Gain	Loss	Net	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G	Rec	Rec-Yards	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G	No.	Yards	Avg	TD	Long
2011	13-11	239	1,324	71	1,253	5.2	13	60	96.4	45	362	8.0	1	23	27.8	0	0	0.0	0	0
2012	10-10	184	1,270	42	1,228	6.7	12	68	122.8	47	490	10.4	5	78	49.0	16	263	16.4	2	74

Professional career

2013 NFL Draft

Bernard declared himself eligible for the 2013 NFL Draft. He was projected as a first or second round pick. Bernard was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round, 37th overall. Prior to Bernard, a running back from North Carolina had not been selected in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft since Natrone Means in 1993.

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	Arm length	Hand size	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
5 ft 8 in	202 lb	28 in	9 3/8 in	4.53 s	1.56 s	2.55 s	4.12 s	6.91 s	33 1/2 in	10 ft 2 in	19 reps

Cincinnati Bengals

2013 season

On May 23, 2014, the Cincinnati Bengals signed Bernard to a 4-year, $5.25 million contract, with a $2.2 million signing bonus and $3.2 million guaranteed.

Bernard began his rookie season serving as a back-up to veteran Benjarvus Green-Ellis and began transitioning to a change-of-pace back throughout the season. He played in his first game in the Bengal's season opener against the Chicago Bears. He finished his first career game with 4 carries for 22 rushing yards and an 8-yard reception. On September 16, 2013, Bernard scored two key touchdowns in a 20-10 Monday night win over the Bengals' division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. In total, Bernard carried the ball 8 times for 38 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, while also catching a 27-yard touchdown reception. During a Week 6 matchup at the Buffalo Bills, he had a season-high 15 carries for 28-yards and 6 catches for 72-yards and a touchdown.

On October 31, 2013, Bernard scored two touchdowns on 9 carries in an overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins. Bernard's second score came on a 35-yard touchdown run that was praised by commentators as one of the best runs of the season.

On December 8, 2013, Bernard had a season-high 99 rushing yards on 12 carries while also racking up 49 receiving yards on 4 catches in a 42-38 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. In his first season with the Bengals, they finished with an 11-5 record and were apart of the playoffs. Bernard played in his first playoff game on January 5, 2014, against the San Diego Chargers. Although the Bengals loss the Wild-card game 10-27, Bernard had 12 carries for 45 rushing yards and a single fumble.

Bernard finished the season second on the team in rushing (695 yards), receptions (56), and total yards (1,209), while ranking third in receiving yards (514) and touchdowns (five rushing and three receiving).

2014 season

During the off-season, Benjarvus Green-Ellis was not resigned. To compliment Bernard's running style the Bengals drafted Jeremy Hill in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was named as the Bengal's starting runningback for the beginning of the season. In their season opener at the Baltimore Ravens, he earned his first career start and carries the ball 14 times for 48-yards and made 6 receptions for 62 receiving yards. The next week against the Atlanta Falcons, he had 27 carries for 90 rushing yards and scored his first rushing touchdown of the season. In Week 3, Bernard had 14 carries for 47 rushing yards and scored 2 rushing touchdowns in a 33-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans.

On October 12, 2014, against the Carolina Panthers, he had his first career game with over 100 rushing yards. He finished the game with 18 carries, 137 rushing yards, and scored a 89-yard rushing touchdown in a 37-37 tie with the Panthers. After starting the first 7 games of the season, he missed Weeks 9-11 due to injury. The Bengals played in the AFC Wild-card game for the second year in a row. Bernard finished the game with only 3 rushing attempts for 6-yards but also caught 8 passes for 46-yards. He finished his second season with a total of 168 carries, 680 rushing yards, 5 rushing touchdowns, 43 catches, 349 receiving yards, and 2 receiving touchdowns in 13 games and 9 starts.

2015 season

For his third season with the Bengals, he began the season as a change-of-pace back behind starting running back Jeremy Hill. In the season-opening win over the Oakland Raiders, Bernard and Hill each rushed for 63 yards in a 33-13 Bengals' win.

One week later, Hill lost two fumbles and Bernard rushed for 123 yards on 20 carries in his absence, the lone Bengal to eclipse the 100-yard mark on the season.

In week four, Bernard ran for his first touchdown of the season in 36-21 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

One week later, the Bengals pulled off the biggest comeback in franchise history, rallying from 17 points down to defeat the two-time defending NFC-Champion Seattle Seahawks in overtime, 27-24. In the win, Bernard tallied 101 yards from scrimmage including 80 on the ground. In overtime, Bernard's 13-yard run set up Mike Nugent's game-winning field goal to send the Bengals to 5-0.

Bernard recorded his second (and last) rushing score of the season in a 34-21 road victory over the Buffalo Bills one-week later.

In a week 11 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, 34-31, Bernard recorded a career-best 128 receiving yards on eight catches.

Bernard got his first start of the season in week 15 against the 49ers, rushing for 33 yards on 14 carries in a 24-14 Bengals' win. The victory clinched Cincinnati's fifth consecutive playoff berth.

In the Bengals' 18-16 playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bernard was injured on a hit by linebacker Ryan Shazier. He fumbled (and lost) the ball and did not return to the game. It was his first lost fumble since his rookie season in a 27-10 playoff loss to the Chargers.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]