99 Days 'Til Kickoff: Bravvion Roy's career at Baylor was more than the stats
Baylor football will begin its 2021 football season with a road game against Texas State on Saturday, Sept. 4. To help pass the time, SicEm365’s Colt Barber will look back at former Baylor players who wore a jersey number correlating with the number of days remaining until the season begins.
It’s not often that Baylor signs a four-star high school defensive tackle prospect, but the ones that have signed with the Bears have typically turned out to be pretty dang good. A leftover from Art Briles’ 2016 signing class, Spring (TX) High School Bravvion Roy fell into that category.
Roy captured the attention of many national programs early in his high school career, even reporting offers from Texas and LSU, but concerns about academics and potentially his work ethic kept the offers later in his high school career at bay.
That was the case for all programs across the state except for Baylor as defensive line coach Chris Achuff stayed on Roy from start to finish knowing that the potential was real if all of the stars were to eventually align. Roy maintained his four-star ranking but the potential was much more. And it was evident for anyone who turned the tape on to see the tank playing defensive end in his school’s defensive scheme.
Roy arrived at Baylor with see-sawing expectations, but his quick-twitch skill set despite being over 325 pounds was enough to keep him in the mix for early playing time. Roy received playing time in 2016 as a true freshman primarily out of need, but an arm injury derailed what was a promising start to the season. Roy played in nine of 13 games with a single start and collected seven tackles.
The excitement for Roy’s potential had not waned, but a shift in defensive scheme when new head coach Matt Rhule was hired in December of 2017 created an opportunity for Roy to flourish if he continued to debunk the myth about his work ethic that followed him in high school.
In Phil Snow’s three-man front, Roy would start four games as a sophomore in 2017. He tallied a modest 31 tackles with 3.0 tackles for loss that season but it was evident that with additional progress and the window for playing time coming open with the departure of senior Ira Lewis that Roy would have his chance to sign.
And he did. Over the next two seasons Roy would start 24 games and helped lead a dominant Baylor defensive line in 2019, his senior campaign and Baylor’s 11-win season. Roy’s output stayed steady in 2018 with 34 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, but it was his final season that he exploded.
On his way to First Team All-Big 12 Honors, Roy would virtually double his numbers across the board, tallying 61 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks on the season. He helped Baylor’s defense to lead the league in yards per carry defense at 3.66 and was key in freeing up pass rushers as Baylor led the league with 3.29 sacks per game.
Roy would eventually reunite with Rhule in Carolina. The Panthers selected Roy as the 184th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. As a rookie last fall, Roy totaled 29 tackles and 1.0 sacks in 15 games played.
As did the entire 2016 recruiting class that opted to weather the storm in Waco and remain at Baylor, Roy would have been a legend regardless of his production as a Bear. Throw on top Roy’s personal success that led to the success for his team during his four seasons and his marks on the program are even more signficant.
