It took all of one game to get the conversation started about what heights Carroll's career would reach, with a team-high 19 points in the first game of his freshman season. Fast forward to a few months later, and he had already racked up the Big West Freshman of the Year award, second-team all-Big West honors, Rivals.com freshman all-American, and the Big West Tournament Most Valuable Player award.
And it was only up from there...
As a sophomore, Carroll made significant improvements in both points and assists per game, earning second-team all-WAC honors that season. On the year, he averaged 16.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 45.1 percent from 3-point land.
But going into his junior season, Carroll was without a dominant post player to balance out the offense for the first time in his career. All he did was up his game to a whole new level, chipping in an extra five points per game, nearly doubling his rebounding average and shooting 52.7 percent from the field. Carroll largely put that entire team on his back, helping lead the Aggies to the most unlikely 23-win season of the last 14 years.
And while Chaz Spicer was Mr. Automatic in the final seconds, if USU needed a big basket to either tie the game or bring USU within one more basket to take the lead, Carroll was the guy hitting that big shot every time!
After leading the WAC in scoring, including an epic 44-point game against New Mexico State, Carroll was a no-brainer pick for the all-WAC first team. And with three-time WAC Player of the Year Nick Fazekas graduated, Carroll was also a no-brainer to be the preseason Player of the Year going into the 2007-08 season.
He completely lived up to all the hype as a senior, upping his scoring by a little and his 3-point percentage by a lot. Most importantly though, he helped lead Utah State to its first WAC regular season title. At the end of that regular season, Carroll became the first Stew Morrill player to earn Player of the Year honors in either the WAC or Big West.
The biggest accomplishment though came on a Saturday night in January against the Idaho Vandals. Just two days after helping Morrill become the all-time coaching wins leader at Utah State, Carroll stuck a claim to the greatest individual record a player can earn. Needing just two points to tie Greg Grants scoring record, and three to claim the record for himself, he came off a high screen early in the first half and let a 3-point shot go that would make history.
A high bounce off and stalling on the rim that seemed like forever, the shot finally went down, cementing Carroll as the greatest scorer in this history of Utah State basketball. He finished his career with an unreal 2,522 points.
Breaking down his game as a whole, Carroll was about as good at shooting a basketball as most anyone to ever play the game. Not just at Utah State, but in the history of basketball. On top of that, he had a relentless motor, playing insane totals of minutes each game, yet never seeming to get fatigued. He was also an elite rebounder for a guard and terrific at reading and jumping into passing lanes defensively. For his career, Carroll averaged 18.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and two assists per game, while shooting 51.1 percent from the field 46.5 percent from behind the 3-point line and hitting 86.1 percent of his free throws.
With all-conference honors in all four of his seasons, a Player of the Year award and possession of the single greatest individual record ever, the choice for No. 1 is obvious.
In Stew Morrill's time at Utah State, there has been no greater player than Jaycee Carroll.
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