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Gritty. Humble. Serious. Trio of Gopher linemen recruits headed to All-American Bowl

andy greder, pioneer press
·7 min read

Three high school linemen in the Gophers’ 2024 recruiting class are part of a prestigious group of prospects invited to play in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio in January.

The distinguished group: Kindred, N.D., defensive lineman Riley Sunram; Olathe, Kan., offensive lineman Brett Carroll; and Mukwonago, Wis., offensive lineman Nathan Roy. The U’s list grows to four with Esko, Minn., safety Koi Perich.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Sunram told the Pioneer Press. “I’m so grateful for what I have and what I can do. … I understand it’s very hard to get into.”

It’s rare for the Gophers to be this well-represented in the showcase event, with East and West rosters combining for only 109 total players nationwide.

Last year, two receivers in the 2023 recruiting class — Kenric Lanier and T.J. McWilliams — were selected for the All-American Bowl before their freshman seasons with the Gophers last fall. Before that pair, the U’s previous honoree was Carter Coughlin in 2016.

“It’s the best of the best of the best, and to be in that top percent is really a blessing,” said Roy, who will sit out the bowl due to a meniscus injury suffered at the end of his senior season.

All three plan to sign letters of intent with the Gophers on Wednesday and join the program next year.

Here’s a trio of vignettes on the U’s three honored linemen:

Riley Sunram

There is not a well-worn recruiting trail to Kindred, N.D., given its population of under 1,000 people and its location 30 miles southwest of Fargo.

That changed with Sunram, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound lineman, with Kansas State, Duke, Nebraska, Miami (Fla.) and others offering scholarships.

“There’s a couple of guys that go through your program that you just hold in the highest regard,” said Eric Burgad, a coach in the program since 2014. “Tremendous character kids, tremendous effort kids, guys who are just really a staple. That’s Riley.”

The Gophers and defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere showed Sunram he was “truly wanted” and not another guy for the roster, Burgad said.

But the attention didn’t go to Sunram’s head. “He wouldn’t walk from social studies class to math class telling everybody that Duke is coming to see him this afternoon,” Burgad said.

Burgad knew Sunram was special when, as a freshman, he contributed on the defensive line during a playoff game. Sunram became a two-way starter along both lines and played with a torn labrum for his entire junior year.

During games, his shoulder would pop out of its socket and teammates would have to help him up off the turf. He would leave the game for treatment but would come back to finish drives.

“Such mental and physical toughness,” Burgad said. “You knew it hurt him, but he was never going to say anything to you.”

“Whenever someone talked to me about it, I didn’t really enjoy it because I didn’t want it to be my excuse,” Sunram said. “I mean, the worst pain in my life. Just try to get through it. It sucked.”

Sunram was healthy in 2023 and helped Kindred win the Division A state championship.

“There’s so many times where Riley would line up, physically and just skill-wise, he has a definite advantage,” Burgad said. “But he never played like that. He always played like it was the Super Bowl.”

Sunram cherishes his opportunity to be a role model, and his legend has grown over the years.

“Everyone in our community, all the kids at the elementary school, certainly know his name,” Burgad said. “Everybody wants to be Riley Sunram.”

Nathan Roy

Football season was fast approaching in 2021 when the Roy family moved from Las Vegas to Mukwonago, Wis. — a town of 8,000 roughly 30 miles southwest of Milwaukee.

Nathan Roy, a sophomore, wanted to learn about Mukwanago’s offense and asked head coach Michael Gnewuch to share which college programs it resembled. Gnewuch mentioned North Dakota State.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, so you run a lot of power and a lot of gap scheme,’ ” Gnewuch recalled. “I think that just kind of gives you an idea that the kid knows football, loves football and studies football.”

That understanding, in part, comes from his older brother Benjamin Roy Jr., a third-year reserve lineman at UCLA.

“I spend a lot of time studying the game, watching tape,” Nathan Roy said. “And having an older brother that plays the same position as you. (He’s) just a text away, if you got a question about a certain technique or how you want to do something.”

At 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, Roy matches that IQ with great footwork and tenacity.

“He’s an athlete who plays offensive line,” Gnewuch said. “His feet are unbelievable. He can flat-out fly. He legit runs for 4.7 (second) 40-yard dash. Iowa State clocked him at 4.66 last summer. … He’s got great body control. Great balance.”

Roy doesn’t think of himself as “anything special.” Well, he does feel he’s “just tough, gritty and wanting to hurt somebody.”

After growing up in Phoenix and spending some time in Las Vegas, the Roys returned Wisconsin, where Nathan’s mother, Summer, was born and raised near Madison.

Gnewuch said the Badgers “recruited the heck out of” Roy but couldn’t contend with the Gophers and offensive line coach Brian Callahan.

“Just built a great relationship with him because he’s been day one,” Roy said. “They got to the top (of my list), and they’ve always been at the top.”

As a four-star recruit, Roy is the U’s most coveted lineman in the class. His offer list included many of the top programs from across the country.

Brett Carroll

Carroll will keep the family tradition alive. His grandfather, James McCord, played defensive tackle for Nebraska in the 1960s and his uncle, Jonathan Brown, played defensive end for Tennessee in the 1990s.

“I deeply admired him,” Carroll said about his grandpa, a Cornhuskers football hall of fame member. “They influenced the way that I thought about football.”

Carroll showed how seriously he takes the game as a sophomore at Olathe East, a bigger suburban school southwest of Kansas City. He took action when he saw upperclassmen not supporting the freshman team to the level he thought it deserved.

Head coach Courtney Porter said that story will stick with him.

“’We’re supposed to be a team, supposed to be a family,’” Porter recalled of Carroll’s message. “That was big for a sophomore to step up and say that.”

Carroll said Porter makes that story a big deal, but it’s rather simple. “I’m a type of guy that when I see things being done the wrong way, I tend to fix it then and there,” the two-time captain explained. “Because you can’t let problems fester. That’s the way I look at things. And that’s one, I guess, I saw a problem that needed to be fixed and tried to fix it.”

Carroll’s recruiting process was slower until he won a state wrestling championship last year and performed well at an Under Armour camp.

“It got crazy for a minute. I mean, it was probably two, sometimes three schools a day,” said Porter, whose offers included Illinois, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and others.

But Minnesota won him over, with Carroll citing Callahan’s ability to teach the game and one thing head coach P.J. Fleck said to him: “Tell me what you want to be, and I’ll hold you accountable for that.”

“That resonated with me,” Carroll said.

Carroll relishes the chance to play in the All-American Bowl.

“I went under the radar for a long time and I didn’t get a lot of respect I felt I deserved in terms of football accolades,” he said. ” This is kind of coming full circle. … I have a lot of family in Texas and Oklahoma and they will come and watch me. It’s gonna be an awesome event for my family and me.”

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