Jarett Dillard
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Jarett Dillard (born Jarett Juma Porter Dillard on December 21, 1985 in San Antonio, Texas) plays wide receiver for the Rice University Owls in the NCAA college football tournament. Dillard broke out into the scene as a record breaking sophomore wide receiver who established several receiving records in only his second year as the team's starter. Although his performance mellowed a bit during his junior year, Dillard continued his record seeking ways as he became only the 8th catcher in NCAA history to score 40 touchdown receptions and together with teammate Chase Clement, became the most productive tandem in the league.
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[edit] Personal Life
Jarett Juma Porter is one of Porter and Robin Dillard's three children, having one brother and one sister. Jarett majored in political science at Rice University. The 5-foot-11, 160-pound Texas native has been known for his acrobatic catches and highlight reel-worthy plays which he and quarterback Chase Clement readily do in practice. He says he does those difficult catches in practices so that if it happens in a game, he'll be ready for it.
[edit] High School
Dillard was a multi-sport athlete at Sam Houston High School where he played in the school's football, basketball and track teams. He was part of the 2003 basketball squad that took part in the Class 4A state basketball tournament while also competing in the 2003 regional track meet in both hurdles events. Dillard however was a mainstay for the Hurricanes football team under head football coach Russell Tatum, earning three letters and was a three year starter for the Sam Houston squad. He capped his high school football career with two all-District 28-4A selections at wide receiver in addition to an all-area accolades in his final playing year. But apart from his success on the field, Dillard also did pretty well off of it as evident by his first place academic ranking throughout his high school career in addition to his academic all-state selection in 2003. Dillard, who served as a class officer, was also a National Honor Society member graduating at the top of his class.
[edit] College
A 1-star rated wide receiver, Dillard was recruited by former coach Ken Hatfield to catch balls in Rice's run-oriented offense.
[edit] 2004
Redshirted.
[edit] 2005
Dillard made his collegiate debut @ UCLA, catching 4 passes for 43 yards in a 21-63 loss. After a 2-catch, 70-yard performance @ Texas, he was able to catch his first career touchdown @ UAB where he caught 5 passes for 65 yards. He also scored on touchdown receptions in losses to Navy (2 catches for 24 yards) and Texas-El Paso (2 receptions for 40 yards) but went scoreless in the next couple of games @ Southern Methodist and in a win against Tulane. Dillard caught his 4th score in a loss to Central Florida (3 catches, 48 yards) before ending the season with his fifth touchdown catch (51 yards) to go with season highs in receptions (6) and receiving yards (96) in a loss @ Houston. He finished the season with 35 receptions (most by any Owl in coach Ken Hatfield's 12 season tenure), 524 receiving yards, and five touchdowns in 11 appearances and eight starts. Dillard, who caught atleast 2 passes in each game, was also selected into the All-Conference USA freshman team.
[edit] 2006
After coach Hatfield retired, Rice underwent some changes with the arrival of coach Todd Graham as the Owls implemented a new spread offense which was believed to be perfectly suited for Dillard and Clement.
Dillard opened the season with a 4-catch, 34-yard, 1-TD effort in a heartbreaking 30-31 loss to Houston, then turned out his first 100-yard game the following week in a loss @ UCLA (7 catches, 102 yards). He also caught 9 passes for 91 yards and a score in a loss to Texas, and had 7 catches for 113 yards and 1 score in another defeat @ Florida State before exploding for a new career high of 11 receptions, 171 receiving yards (3rd best in school history), and 3 TDs in the team's first win of the season @ Army. After a loss at Tulane where Dillard caught 6 passes for 61 yards and a score, the Owls strung up six consecutive wins. During that stretch, Dillard had 3 hundred yard rushing games (111 against UAB, 137 @ Tulsa, and 145 against Southern Methodist) all the while scoring three touchdowns in those outings. That 6-game winning run enabled the team to earn its first bowl berth in more than four decades. Dillard made his postseason debut at the New Orleans Bowl against Troy, catching 9 passes for 71 yards and a score in a 17-41 loss.
He finished the year with 91 receptions (better than any Rice team total for a season since 1993), 1,247 receiving yards (first Owl to top 1,000 yards in receiving), 21 touchdowns (school and Conference USA record, #1 in the nation), and 126 total points (school record). He also figured prominently in several statistical standings among receivers, placing 3rd in the nation with an average of 9.69 points a game, tied for 5th with 7.0 receptions per game, and ranked 8th with 95.9 yards per game. He also caught atleast a touchdown in 13 consecutive appearances as a sophomore, joining the likes of Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald as the only receivers to achieve the feat. Dating back to his rookie year, Dillard has caught atleast a TD in 15 straight games. His outstanding performance was rewarded with several All-American citations and a runner-up finish for the Biletnikoff Award, making him Rice's first finalist for a major individual post-season award since Trevor Cobb won the Doak Walker Award in 1991.
[edit] 2007
After a highly successful sophomore season, the bar was raised for the incoming junior as the Owls gun for another bowl appearance, this time with new mentor David Bailiff and new coordinator Tom Herman.
During the season however, Dillard and the rest of the Owls struggled with four straight losses to begin the year and his games with atleast a touchdown reception was also snapped. Rice bowed to the lowly Nicholls State in the opener, 14-16, with Dillard catching only 5 passes for 41 yards; then lost @ Baylor 17-42 as Dillard only had 5 catches for 93 yards. The team also suffered lopsided losses to Texas Tech (6 receptions for 90 yards) and Texas (3 catches for 30 yards), though Dillard was finally able to catch a TD pass against the Red Raiders. In the team's first win of the season @ Southern Miss, he recorded season lows in catches (2) and receiving yards (4) but still managed to catch a pair of seven-yard touchdowns in the close 31-29 win. He tallied his first 100-yard game of the season (133 yards) with 1 score on 7 receptions in a loss @ Houston, then matched his career best of 3 touchdown receptions in a 3-point defeat to Memphis. Dillard was temporarily shut-out in a loss to Marshall where he was down to 7 receptions for 99 yards before surging back to lead the Owls to back-to-back wins over UTEP and SMU. He caught 11 passes for a season best 168 yards with 2 scoring catches against the Miners then had a season high 13 receptions for his third 100-yard game (128) with two more TD receptions against the Mustangs. He closed the season out with a 9-catch, 87-yard, 2-TD performance in a loss to Tulane, and a 6-reception, 89-yard, 1-TD showing in the regular season finale against Tulsa.
Dillard ended the year leading the team with 79 receptions, 1,057 receiving yards, and 14 TDs. Although the total was considerably down from the previous season, he did manage to improve his career TD totals to 40, becoming the 8th receiver in NCAA history to do so.
[edit] Highlights
| Jarett Dillard's amazing catch off a Southern Methodist defender. |
[edit] Career Stats
| Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | ||||||||||
| Year | Rec | RecYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | RshYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Fum | Lst |
| 2005 | 35 | 524 | 15.0 | 51 | 5 | 1 | -7 | -7.0 | -7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 91 | 1247 | 13.7 | 65 | 21 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 79 | 1057 | 13.4 | 60 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2007
- Collegefootballnews.com All-CUSA Team
- Collegefootballnews.com Preseason All-CUSA Team
- Collegefootballnews.com's #26 Player in the C-USA
- Collegefootballnews.com's #2 WR in the C-USA
- Collegefootballnews.com's #5 Preseason Player in the C-USA
- Consensus All-C-USA selection
- Dave Campbell's Texas Football pre-season Texas College Player of the Year
- Phil Steele All-CUSA First Team
- Phil Steele fourth-team All America
- Rice's George R. Brown Offensive Award
- Sports Illustrated honorable mention All-America
[edit] 2006
- Associated Press Second Team All-America
- Biletnikoff Award finalist
- Collegefootballnews.com All-CUSA Team
- Collegefootballnews.com's #2 Player in the C-USA
- Collegefootballnews.com's #1 WR in the C-USA
- Consensus All-C-USA selection
- ESPN.com First-team All-America
- SI.com Second Team All-America
- The Sporting News Second Team All-America
- The Walter Camp Foundation Second Team All-America
[edit] 2005
- All-Conference USA freshman
