Four Scarlet Knights Earn All-Big Ten Honors
Dec 01 | Football
Dec. 1, 2014
CHICAGO, Ill. - The Big Ten Conference announced the 2014 All-Big Ten Teams as voted on by the league's head coaches along with conference media members.
The media All-Big Ten Team featured Rutgers junior wide receiver Leonte Carroo (Edison, N.J.) as he earned All-Big Ten First Team honors while junior defensive tackle Darius Hamilton (West Paterson, N.J.), redshirt freshman defensive end Kemoko Turay (Newark, N.J.) and senior offensive guard Kaleb Johnson (Jacksonville, Fla.) earned honorable mention all-conference accolades from the conference media.
Carroo and Johnson were named honorable mention All-Big Ten by the league's head coaches.
Carroo is putting together an All-America caliber season. The New Jersey native ranks 17th nationally and second in the Big Ten in receiving yards (1,043) and 11th nationally and second in the Big Ten in receiving touchdowns (10). Carroo has tied the Rutgers single-season record with 10 touchdown receptions.
He leads the nation in yards per reception (19.7) for players with at least 40 receptions and is seventh nationally with 13 receptions of 25+ yards.
Carroo is already second in Rutgers history with 19 receiving touchdowns in just 22 career games at wide receiver. He is the only player in 145 years of Rutgers football to record three touchdown receptions in a game twice
An every-down lineman in 2014, Hamilton has started all 12 games at defensive tackle for Rutgers. The junior leads the defense with 9.5 tackles-for-loss, including a career-best five sacks which rank 19th in the Big Ten. Overall, he has 43 tackles from the interior of the defensive line with a career-high-tying eight stops in the recent win at Maryland. Hamilton had a key tackle for no gain on a late third down against the Terrapins to help lead a defensive stop that sealed the victory.
Turay emerged as a pass rushing specialist in his redshirt freshman season for the Scarlet Knights. He picked up a team-high 7.5 sacks during the regular season, ranking tied for seventh among Big Ten players and third amid freshmen nationally. The defensive end started off with two sacks in the season-opening win at Washington State on his way to 26 tackles overall in 12 games. Turay also established himself on special teams with three blocked kicks to tie the nation's lead, including one on a late field goal attempt by Michigan to prevent a potential go-ahead score.
Johnson earns postseason honors for the fourth consecutive season on the offensive line. Following multiple Freshman All-America honors, he was named second team all-conference in both the Big East and the American as a sophomore and junior, respectively. In 2014, Johnson has started every game at left guard to extend his starting streak to 49, the most by an offensive lineman in program history. The Jacksonville native has been part of a group that has paved the way for two different 200-yard team rushing games and allowed just two sacks in the final three games of the regular season.
Rutgers (7-5) awaits its bowl destination as the Scarlet Knights are bowl eligible for the ninth time in 10 seasons. The Scarlet Knights, who rallied from a 35-10 deficit to defeat Maryland 41-38 for the largest comeback win in school history Nov. 29, will find out their bowl destination and opponent Sunday.
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