Carr takes old-fashioned approach to football
Based on his views and approach toward the game of football,
Advertisement
could be considered old-fashioned. The 6-foot-6, 322-pound offensive tackle from
Southside (Ala.) doesn't think student-athletes should be paid. He's not on
board with all the new rule changes with regard to concussions. He holds a
higher regard for his education than the game.
Carr, a four-star prospect, is still undecided on which school
he'll attend, but at this point it appears to be narrowed down to
"Right now, I've got the offers I'm looking for," Carr said. "From whatever
standpoint, I'll have my education covered from all these schools, so I think
I'll be alright."
Carr is considering majoring in business or construction science, with the
dreams of one day building college football and baseball stadiums. Another dream
of his is to one day play in the NFL, but he is making sure he has a plan in
place should that dream fall short.
His school-first approach has definitely helped him in the recruiting process
when talking with schools, his father, Phillip Carr believes.
"My impression is they're looking for kids who are there for an education,"
Phillip Carr said. "Kids who are student-athletes and who put a good foot
forward. The goal is to get him through school and get a bachelor's degree and
hopefully, get a good start on working toward a master's degree."
While Carr clearly values his education, make no mistake -- he's still
passionate about football. In fact, in the past year he's spent countless hours
learning the offensive tackle position after spending his previous career
playing on the defensive line.
Because of his size, the advice he got from coaches suggested he'd be more of an
asset on the offensive side of the ball. He immediately began working on
learning how to play offense and overcoming the disadvantage of inexperience. A
lot of hours were spent after practice with extra work.
That work has definitely paid off, as Carr is the No. 7 ranked offensive tackle
in the country.
"His love for football goes without saying," Phillip Carr said. "You've got to
love it to do what he's done. There's a lot of other things a 16- or 17-year old
could do like dating and hanging out with his buddies, so if he didn't love what
he was doing he wouldn't do it."
Carr's grounded approach toward the game goes beyond his work ethic. At the
Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge Presented by Under Armour, where he had a strong
performance, he was in the minority on his stance of student-athletes being paid
to play. He prefers to keep it the way it's always been.
"I'm not real big on student-athletes getting paid," Card said. "They should
just play ball and not worry about that. That's taking it a step too far. They
already pay for my education and for my meals and things like that -- what more
could I ask? But if that's where it's headed, that's where it's headed, you
know? There's not much you can really do about it."
Another issue in football at all levels of play is concussions. With new rules
prohibiting certain types of head contact that's inevitable due to the speed and
nature of the game, the way the game has always been played is changing, for
better or for worse.
Carr would prefer the game stay the same.
"It's a dangerous game," he said. "The more they try to hold you back from it,
it's just going to mess up the game. I think you've got to leave it alone. And
the players know the risks. There are certain precautions they need to take,
like sitting players out when it happens, obviously. But at the same time, if
you're hesitant and worried about it all the time, you're not going to be able
to play at your best."
So while he may not be your typical high school football prospect, he's one of
the better ones, both on the field and in the classroom. And while he's a lock
to get his degree, the NFL dream just may happen too.
"'If it comes, it comes,' is what I always tell everybody," Carr said. "It's just
one of those things, I guess."
Adam Krohn is a Southeast Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
Click Here to view this Link.
[rl]