Rakeem Nunez-Roches
| No. 99 Kansas City Chiefs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Defensive end | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Date of birth: | July 3, 1993 | ||||
| Place of birth: | Dangriga, Belize | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 307 lb (139 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school: | Phenix City (AL) Central | ||||
| College: | Southern Mississippi | ||||
| NFL Draft: | 2015 / Round: 6 / Pick: 217 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| |||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||
| Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2015 | |||||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||||
Rakeem Nathan Nunez-Roches (born July 3, 1993) is a Belizean professional American football defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Chiefs in the sixth round (217th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. He played college football at the Southern Mississippi.
High school career
Nunez-Roches attended Central High School in Phenix City, Alabama. For his career, he recorded 132 career tackles, 17 sacks and four forced fumbles. He also played basketball and baseball. He earned All-state honors in basketball and was voted best pitcher in baseball. In football, he was rated as a three-star defensive lineman by ESPN, as well as two stars from Rivals.com and Scout.com. He was selected Second-team All-Area by the Opelika-Auburn News and was an Alabama Top 50 player, ranked No. 39 by the Tuscaloosa Times.[1]
College career
Nunez-Roches played at the University of Southern Mississippi from 2011 to 2014 where he majored in biological sciences. As a freshman in 2011, he appeared in six games and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team. For the season, he recorded two tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. As a sophomore in 2011, he started 11-of-12 games, his only non-start being Southern Miss' senior night game against UTEP. For the season, he recorded 37 tackles (22 solo), six tackles-for-loss, one sack, one forced fumble.[1]
As a junior in 2013, he started the first two games of the season, before suffering a season ending injury, which earned him a medical redshirt. For the season, he recorded eight tackles (two solo) and 0.5 tackles-for-loss.[1] As a redshirt junior in 2014, he appeared in 11 games. He recorded 63 tackles (35 solo), 15 tackles-for-loss, four sacks and one forced fumble.[2] Following the season, he entered the 2015 NFL Draft.[3][4]
College statistics
| Year | Team | GP/GS | Tackles | Sacks | Pass defense | Fumbles | Safeties | TDs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | Ast | Total | TFL | No | Int | PD | FF | FR | |||||||||||||
| 2011 | Southern Miss | 6 / 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2012 | Southern Miss | 12 / 11 | 22 | 15 | 37 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2013 | Southern Miss | 2 / 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2014 | Southern Miss | 11 / 11 | 35 | 28 | 63 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Career | 31 / 24 | 61 | 49 | 110 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
Professional career
Kansas City Chiefs
Nunez-Roches was drafted in the sixth round (217th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.[5] He was the first Belizean born player to be drafted in the NFL.[6] On May 11, he signed his rookie contract with the Chiefs.[7]
On September 17, 2016, Nunez-Roches was released by the Chiefs.[8] He was signed to the practice squad on September 20, 2016.[9] He was signed to the active roster on October 18, 2016.[10]
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP/GS | Tackles | Sacks | Pass defense | Fumbles | Safeties | TDs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | Ast | Total | TFL | No | Int | PD | FF | FR | |||||||||||||
| 2015 | KC | 7 / 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2016 | KC | 0 / 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Career | 7 / 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
Personal life
Born in Dangriga, Belize, Nunez-Roches is fluent in both English and Garifuna.[12]
References
- 1 2 3 "Rakeem Nunez-Roches bio". SouthernMiss.com (via Archive.org). Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- 1 2 "Rakeem Nunez-Roches Statistics at Sports-Reference.com". Sport-Reference.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- ↑ "USM's Nunez-Roches intends to enter NFL draft". The Clarion Ledger. December 26, 2014.
- ↑ "Nunez-Roches takes NFL draft ratings in stride". Hattiesburg American. April 16, 2015.
- ↑ "Chiefs". kansascity.
- ↑ "1st Belizean born player drafted in the NFL". Amandala Newspaper.
- ↑ Verderame, Matt (May 11, 2015). "Kansas City Chiefs sign four draft picks". ArrowheadAddict.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- ↑ Paylor, Terez A. (September 17, 2016). "Chiefs release Rakeem Nunez-Roches, add Jordan Devey from practice squad". KansasCity.com. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
- ↑ "Transactions (2016)". Chiefs.com. September 20, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
- ↑ "Chiefs Announce Roster Moves". Chiefs.com. October 18, 2016.
- ↑ "Rakeen Nunez-Roches Career Stats". NFL.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- ↑ "Nunez-Roches helps others". Hattiesburg American. November 26, 2014.