Former Central Red Devil football standout will play in the Super Bowl
A former Chattahoochee Valley football player will take football’s biggest stage next month.
Central Red Devil graduate and current Tampa Bay Buccaneer Rakeem Nunez-Roches will play in the 2021 Super Bowl on Feb. 7.
The 27 year old plays defensive line for the Buccaneers, which beat Green Bay 31-26 in Sunday’s NFC Championship. On the season, he’s registered seven tackles.
“When the opportunity comes, you just want to be ready,” Nunez-Roches said on a Zoom call with Buccaneers media ahead of the team’s Week 6 home game against the Packers. “I always prepare like I’m that guy — I’m going to be out there 40 plays.
“... Don’t count the plays; make the plays count.”
Nunez-Roches was selected in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played three seasons. He signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent in October 2018 and is in his third season with the Buccaneers.
Nunez-Roches (6-foot-2, 307 pounds) played four seasons at Southern Miss.
He played for former head coach Woodrow Lowe at Central. His final high school season was 2010.
Nunez-Roches, a native of Belize who moved to the U.S. in 2000 with his mother, finished with 132 tackles, 17 sacks and four forced fumbles in his Central career.
He played in six games as a freshman for Southern Miss and earned Conference USA All-Freshman team honors. Nunez-Roches started 11 games as a sophomore and played in all 12. He made the All-Conference USA honorable mention.
As a junior in 2013, he started and played in just the first two games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He received a medical redshirt, so he was still a junior in 2014. He earned All-Conference USA first team honors with 58 tackles, including 32 solo and 14 tackles for loss.
