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The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Superlatives

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The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Season Superlatives exist to honor exceptional Owls who made a difference on the field this season. Here’s the complete list.

There were many individual performances worth recognizing in the 2019 Rice Football season. In addition to the more traditional awards below, make sure to check out The Roosties, the first annual award show from The Roost Podcast, which features a different angle of honors. From our favorite plays to the players we were most wrong about in the preseason, we cover some of the more creative superlatives on the show.

Defensive Newcomer of the Year — DB Naeem Smith

Full Story: Defensive Newcomer of the Year Award

Excerpt: “Smith and the secondary capped off their season with a near-perfect outing against preseason Conference USA Player of the Year Mason Fine on Senior Day. The North Texas quarterback was held without a touchdown pass, in a game in which he attempted at least 15 passes, for the first time since Sep. 16, 2017 at Iowa. Nobody keeps Fine out of the endzone, but Rice football did. And Smith was a crucial piece to that puzzle.”

Offensive Newcomer of the Year — WR Bradley Rozner

Full Story: Offensive Newcomer of the Year Award

Excerpt: “The season was a collection of moments like that for Rozner. He led all of junior college in touchdowns last season. In his first year at Rice, he led the Owls’ pass catchers in scoring, too. Not only did South Main become his home, he proved he belonged on this stage time and time again.”

Rising Star — DT De’Braylon Carroll

Full Story: Rising Star Award

Excerpt: “Carroll’s impact went beyond the boxscore. Those relying on the stat sheet to project how impactful the Rice front seven will be next season are in for a surprise. Carroll will be ready and waiting for his turn. Adams has exhausted his eligibility and moved on. Rice has yet to sign any interior defensive lineman in their most recent recruiting class. The starting job is going to be Carroll’s. If he continues to play at this level he won’t fly under the radar for much longer.”

Special Team’s Player of the Year — LB Garrett Grammer

Full Story: Special Team’s Player of the Year Award

Excerpt: “Humble excellence. That’s pretty much Garrett Grammer in a nutshell. And that’s why this season, despite the string of defeats, has been so rewarding for many on this team. His efforts are the backbone of a team in the progress of pulling itself up by the bootstraps, of a collection of players working their butts off to earn a win, somehow, someway.”

Defensive Player of the Year — DB Treshawn Chamberlain

Full Story: Defensive Player of the Year

Excerpt: “Even with those impressive numbers, it’s hard to quantify the impact a player like Chamerblain had on this defense. The energy he brought to the defense this season went far beyond the x’s and o’s. Some players stay emotionally level from start to finish. Chamberlain is a guy that embraces the intensity of the game, playing with a passion, a swagger that gives him an edge.”

Offensive Player of the Year — RB Aston Walter

Full Story: Offensive Player of the Year

Excerpt: “That career ended in El Paso, Texas on the very field he lost his junior season. This time, instead of accruing another redshirt, Walter went out with a bang. He paced Rice with 149 rushing yards and one touchdown which came from 30 yards out. Things had finally come full circle. A fitting way for a player who’s career had transformed from a part-time role to a core offensive weapon.”

Team MVP — LB Blaze Alldredge

Full Story: Team MVP Award

Excerpt: “Dominant. If one were to describe Blaze Alldredge’s 2019 season in one word, that would be it. This marked the year the JUCO kid from Florida proved he belonged on the big stage. And not just belonged, that he was the Alpha on the field, patrolling the hash marks and ready to take on any challenger who dared run his direction.”

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Rice Football 2019 Rising Star: De’Braylon Carroll

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We saw flashes this season, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what 2019 Rice Football Rising Star De’Braylon Carroll will do at South Main.

Defensive coordinators around the country have already started kicking themselves for letting De’Braylon Carroll slip past them. During his senior season at Duncanville, Carroll anchored a Duncanville defense that allowed 4.6 points per game. That production didn’t slow down at Rice, making him an easy pick for The Roost’s 2019 Rice Football Rising Star.

A unanimous Defensive MVP in District 8-6A during his senior season, Carroll wasn’t recruited as heavily as some of his teammates. There were concerns that his height (listed on the Rice football roster at 6-foot) would limit him at the next level. Starters from that defense earned D1 scholarships around the country. Carroll quietly watched the early signing period come and go, waiting until January to make his pledge. His choices? Air Force, Alabama A&M, Georgetown, Harding, Navy and Rice.

The short list didn’t deter Carroll. He climbed from the scout team to the second team almost immediately upon his arrival on campus. By the end of fall camp, the true freshman was frequently taking reps with the first team defense. He was a fixture in the defensive line rotation from that point on,

Carroll picked up his first career sack against Louisiana Tech, brining down J’Mar Smith for a loss of 14 yards. He finished the year with 14 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss. His season-best four-tackle game came in his collegiate debut on the road against Army. While playing limited snaps behind defensive team captain Myles Adams, Carroll was selected to the Pro Football Focus All-Freshman team this season.

Time and time again he showed he could produce when given the opportunity. His quickness and power at the point of attack became a problem for Conference USA offensive lines. The Owls didn’t get many sacks this season, but the disruption players like Carroll and Adams were able to cause on the interior made a difference. Some of the conference’s best quarterbacks — Jack Abraham at Southern Miss and Mason Fine at North Texas — struggled to find any semblance of rhythm.

Waves of freshmen saw the field for Rice football in 2018. That changed this season, as the young core of Owls had an additional year of experience under their belt. Only three true freshmen played in every game in 2019: linebacker Adrian Bickham, tight end Jack Bradley and Carroll. That short list confirms what those who watched Carroll play this season already know, you can’t keep a player that talented off the field.

Carroll’s impact went beyond the boxscore. Those relying on the stat sheet to project how impactful the Rice front seven will be next season are in for a surprise.

Carroll will be ready and waiting for his turn. Adams has exhausted his eligibility and moved on. Rice has yet to sign any interior defensive lineman in their most recent recruiting class. The starting job is going to be Carroll’s. If he continues to play at this level he won’t fly under the radar for much longer.

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2019 Rice Football Season Preview by The Roost

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The staff of The Roost is pleased to announce the release of the 2019 Rice Football Season Preview, a 143-page digital magazine detailing everything you could imagine about the Owls’ upcoming season.

This preview is the culmination of months of research, interviews and analysis. Consider it your one-stop-shop as you prepare for the Owls’ 2019 season.

Available as a downloadable PDF for on-the-go access, this preview contains the following:

1. A breakdown of every position group on the team

Who are the favorites to start entering fall camp? What sort of production should you expect from returning starters? Which of the incoming transfer players should make their mark the quickest? Answers to all of those questions are included, as well as notes on every single player on the 102-man roster.

2. An exclusive interview with head coach Mike Bloomgren

We sat down with coach to get his honest evaluation of where the Rice football program is right now and how he views the progress the team is making as they approach 2019. He’s sticking to a process, one which he remains confident will bring success to South Main.

3. Previews of each 2019 opponent and all 14 CUSA Teams

Supported by local beat writers and experts who cover each team, this section has a wealth of knowledge about every CUSA Team and all the Owls’ 2019 opponents.

Rice fans will want to familiarize themselves with the teams they’ll be facing this year. Get to know which players each squad will have to replace, which newcomers could make noise in 2019 and what outstanding questions those in the know have about their respective squads.

4. A complete 2019 Conference USA Football Preview

Available separately to purchase, everyone who purchases the 2019 Rice Football Season Preview will also get The Roost’s 2019 Conference USA Football Preview. We made our picks for preseason honors, top games to watch in 2019 and a closer look at how every team in the conference stacks up.

Don’t need any more convincing? Get a copy for yourself today

Buy Now

 

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Defensive tackle De’Braylon Carroll commits to Owls

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Rice football recruiting snagged a gem in mid-January with the commitment of Duncanville defensive tackle De’Braylon Carroll.

Duncanville Highschool was one wild play away from winning the 2018 UIL Texas State Championship. Even in defeat, one of the state’s premier programs will send elite players to play D1 football across the country.

Three players from that defense are ranked inside the state’s Top 200 recruits, but De’Braylon Carroll earned even more effusive praise from his head coach who called him one of the best players on one of the best defenses in state history. Duncanville allowed 27 points in their first four playoff games and Carroll was there, front and center, wreaking havoc on opposing lines and quarterbacks.

Don’t Miss: Full list of Rice football 2019 signees and commits

Carroll was named to the USA Today All-Texas Team. Rice beat out offers from Air Force and Navy. The 6-foot, 280-pound tackle packs plenty of punch and has the talent to be a high-impact player for the Rice defense.

There will be a learning curve for Carroll, as with each of the incoming freshman, but he comes in with plenty of tools which will only be amplified over time. He plays like he was shot out of a cannon. Carroll is a game breaker, the type of interior presence which can win games — and he’s proven it at the highest level of high school football, securing Duncanville’s semifinal victory with a safety.

Carroll joins Rice signee Izeya Floyd as the Owls’ enforcers up front in the defensive trenches. Getting a pair of impact players in the middle became incredibly important after the announced transfers of Zach Abercrumbia and Roe Wilkins.

There’s a lot to like about Carroll and his game. Rice needed to hit a home run with this position group in the 2019 class. Floyd and Carroll might be a grand slam by the time it’s all said and done.

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