KFBCA Top 11: Danny Carroll

The Kansas Football Coaches Association picked their All-State teams December 6th and 7th, including their Top 11. Kansas Pregame is providing capsules for each of the Top 11 selections. Check out St. Thomas Aquinas lineman Danny Carroll's capsule below and check back for more capsules throughout the week.

Danny Carroll, OL, 6-1, 260, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sr.

When someone brings up football statistics in conversation, you expect to hear the usual lingo: touchdowns, interceptions, tackles, etc. However, rarely do you hear about pancake blocks - a block in which the offensive player puts the defender on his back - or the unsung heroes who battle ferociously to fill that stat column. Danny Carroll of St. Thomas-Aquinas is one such player.

Carroll averaged an incredible 11.6 pancakes per game during his senior year to end with a tally of 116. Numbers like that deserve further conversation. While watching Carroll, a 2021 commit to the University of North Dakota, it becomes quite clear how he was able to achieve such an impressive stat line, considering he appears more like a block of granite with arms and legs moving like a blur across the line than a high school senior. 

It’s more than likely that many of the Saints’ opponents can attest to the feeling of having met with this granite force. Besides receiving his FCS scholarship from North Dakota, the 6-1, 260 pound senior was also nominated for the Buck Buchanan award, a massive honor for any KC area high school lineman/linebacker, and also as a selection to a number of All-State teams.

Regarding his spot on the KFBCA Top 11, Carrol had this to say, “Well, it’s a huge accomplishment to me. It makes me so happy all my hard work finally paid off. It shows me I am one of the best players in the state which is a huge blessing. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to be selected as a top 11 player. It’s really nice to get some recognition, especially as an offensive lineman.”

On par with any other honor Carroll earned is the recognition he received within the locker room. Anyone familiar with Kansas high school football will know the name Randy Dreiling and likely understand the amount of talent he has helped foster at every position on the field through his 30 years as a head coach, a span which has included eight state championships and four runner-up finishes. For the first time ever, Dreiling’s Team MVP Award went to an offensive lineman, Danny Carroll.

During the winter months, Carroll uses his brute strength and agility on the wrestling mat, where he was the fourth place finisher in the 285-pound class a season ago and is the third ranked wrestler in the state this year. His penchant for flattening people will likely have a huge impact on the fourth ranked Saints’ hopes at a state title as this season progresses.

The KFBCA Top 11* and All-State selections consist of seniors from the Class of 2021 nominated and voted on by members of the Kansas Football Coaches Association. For more info about the KFBCA find them online at www.kfbca.com. 

*There are actually 12 Top 11 selections this year because of a tie in voting.