Rockford Sun

Joey Owens Headlines Rockford's Five NACC Postseason Award Selections

The Rockford University football program had five players honored by the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference on Friday morning when the NACC released its 2022 postseason awards. Wide receiver Joey Owens was the Regents' top award recipient with his Second Team All-NACC selection. Quarterback Jaelen Ray, defensive back Garrick McGregor, running back Jack Carey and defensive lineman Miguel Delvalle Jr. all earned NACC Honorable Mention status. 

Wide receiver Joey Owens was voted Second Team All-NACC by the conference's nine head coaches. This marks the third time in his career that he has received postseason recognition from the NACC (1st Team - 2021, Honorable Mention - 2019). Owens had yet another outstanding season and expanded upon his list of school records. He led the NACC in receptions (69), finished second in receiving yards (832), ranked sixth in all-purpose yards (893) and fifteenth in receiving touchdowns (4). Owens now holds a total of ten school records at the conclusion of his career. He is the Rockford University career leader in receptions (227), receiving yards (3,160) and receiving touchdowns (27). In addition to the aforementioned career records, Owens also holds the RU single-game records for receiving touchdowns (4) and receptions (14) and the single-season records for receiving yards (1,269), receiving touchdowns (17), receptions (86), total touchdowns (17) and points (104). On top of that, Owens also ranks third in school history in all-purpose yards (3,225), fifth in total touchdowns (27) and sixth in points (162).

Quarterback Jaelen Ray was selected NACC Honorable Mention for the second straight season. Ray led the NACC in basically every passing category and finished the regular season ranked in the top 10 in the country in four statistical categories. He led the conference in completions (292), attempts (451), completion percentage (64.7%), passing yards (2,993) and total offense (3,141) and ranked second in passing touchdowns (23). Ray also led all NCAA Division III quarterbacks during the regular season in completions per game (29.2), was fourth in passing yards, fifth in total offense per game (313.9) and sixth in passing yards per game (299.1). He also currently holds 17 different school records. Ray is the RU single-game, single-season and career leader in completions (45/292/629), passing attempts (59/451/979), passing yards (472/3260/6829), passing touchdowns (8/33/58) and total offense (528/3516/7271) and the single-game and career leader in completion percentage (91.4%/64.2%).

Defensive back Garrick McGregor was named NACC Honorable Mention. This marks the second time McGregor has received postseason recognition from the NACC (2nd Team - 2021). McGregor finished in the top 20 in the NACC in five statistical categories, including leading the Regents in three of them. He was fifth in the conference in solo tackles (47), seventh in interceptions (3), fifteenth in total tackles (59) and passes defensed (7) and twentieth in pass breakups (4). McGregor finishes his career with 10 interceptions, which ranks third in school history. He also tallied 181 total tackles, 129 solo tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 9 pass breakups and 1 fumble recovery. 

Running back Jack Carey was selected NACC Honorable Mention for the first time in his career. Carey proved to be a very versatile player this season, as he was one of the top rushing and receiving combination threats in the entire conference. He finished sixth in the NACC in rushing attempts (139), ninth in rushing yards (423) and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns. Where Carey really shined though was with his pass-catching abilities coming out of the backfield. He led all NACC running backs in receptions (45), receiving yards (309) and receiving touchdowns (3). He was also ninth in the conference in all-purpose yards (856).

Defensive lineman Miguel Delvalle Jr. was named NACC Honorable Mention in his first season as a Regent. Delvalle anchored Rockford's defensive front and ranked in the top 20 in the NACC in a pair of statistical categories. He was second on the team and seventeenth in the NACC in solo tackles (36) and third on the team and nineteenth in the NACC in total tackles (55). Delvalle was also second on the team in sacks (1) and third in tackles for loss (5). 

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