Jarett Dillard

Dillard was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Porter and Robin Dillard.[6] He has two siblings.[6] Jarett was a valedictorian and Tai was a salutatorian at Sam Houston High School.[7] Darik ranked third in his class at MacArthur High School.[3] Tai played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), where she played for the San Antonio Stars.[8] Tai also played basketball for The University of Texas at Austin, while earning her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology.[8] Presently Tai is Assistant coach of the University of Houston's women's basketball team.[8] Brother Darik played football for Rice University, while earning his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering.[3]

In the 2006 season, Dillard captured national attention as no other Rice Owls football player had done.[6] He shattered school receiving records on the way to becoming a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's top receiver.[9] ESPN's All-America first-team pick broke the NCAA season record for consecutive games with at least one touchdown catch.[10]

As a redshirt sophomore in 2006, he helped lead Rice to its first bowl game in 45 years (1961 Bluebonnet Bowl). Rice closed the season on a 7–1 run, capped by a come-from-behind victory over SMU to clinch a bowl game. During those 8 games, Dillard caught 55 passes for 826 yards and 16 touchdowns. In 2006, Dillard was named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, a first-team All-American by ESPN, a second-team All-American by Sports Illustrated, a second-team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation, a second-team All-American by Sporting News, and a second-team All-American by the Associated Press.[11]

At one point Dillard had a streak of 15 straight games in which he had caught a touchdown pass, leaving only Larry Fitzgerald, who had 18 in a row, in front of him. In the New Orleans Bowl, Dillard caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to set a new record for games with a touchdown in a single season (13), besting the mark he shared with Fitzgerald and Randy Moss of 12 games in a season. In 2006, he caught a total of 21 touchdown passes, which set both Rice and C-USA records.[12] On four separate occasions (Army, UAB, Tulsa, and SMU) he caught three touchdown passes in the same game. He also accumulated 91 catches for 1,247 yards, including 7 games with at least 90 yards: UCLA (102), Texas (91), Florida St. (113), Army (171), UAB (111), Tulsa (137), and SMU (145).

In 2007, Dillard caught another 14 TD passes, earning 1st team C-USA honors and being mentioned by several publications as all-American honorable mention (including 4th team selection by Sports Illustrated).[12] Dillard is one of only 8 players to catch 40 TD passes in a career, a feat he accomplished when he was only a junior.

Dillard holds the NCAA record for career touchdown receptions with 60, eclipsing the prior mark of 50 set by Troy Edwards.[6]

Dillard and Rice quarterback Chase Clement hold the NCAA Division I-A record for career touchdowns between a quarterback-receiver tandem with 51, which has since been tied by Zach Terrell and Corey Davis of Western Michigan. This total does not include the touchdown pass thrown by Dillard to Clement during the final game for both Rice Seniors in the 2008 Texas Bowl. After his senior year, he became the first Rice player to be named to the Football Writers All America team in 50 years (Buddy Dial in 1958).

• List of NCAA major college football yearly receiving leaders
• List of NCAA Division I FBS career receiving touchdowns leaders

• Arizona Cardinals bio