Newberry football’s Jarquez Carter explains why he spurned in-state schools for college choice

NEWBERRY — A festive afternoon at the Newberry High School gym ended with drama, as four-star defensive lineman Jarquez Carter announced his college commitment Thursday before family, friends a national web stream feed.

The caps were lined up on the table — scholarship offers from Miami, Florida, UCF, Florida State, Penn State and Ohio State,

In the end, the 6-foot-2, 284-pound Carter chose to go out of state and play in the Big Ten at Ohio State.

Carter cited the stability of the OSU program and the close relationship he developed with defensive line coach Larry Johnson as reasons to pledge to the Buckeyes.

“Larry Johnson is one of the best to ever do it and I feel like he will need to get me where I need to get to,” Carter said.

As for the stability of Ohio State, Carter said: “If the head coach leaves that means the whole coaching will leave and that can affect the whole team and Larry Johnson. He’s a great person, a great man of God. You see what he’s been doing, putting people in the NFL like Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, Chase Young, and not just average defensive linemen. It’s people who are great and might be Hall of Famers. I want to be a part of it.”

Florida football coach Billy Napier enters year three on the hot seat, but Carter said his decision to not play for the Florida Gators had more to do with style of play.

“I love Florida and all, but it just didn’t fit my style of play,” Carter said. “I don’t see myself as Florida. It’s no disrespect to any of the coaches that recruited me. I respect every single coach.”

Carter is a four-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite, a top-400 national recruit and No. 42 among defensive lineman. That site’s Crystal Ball projected Carter to go to Miami earlier this month, before changing to Ohio State this week. But Carter said his mind was made up to go to OSU after his…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/newberry-hs-dt-jarquez-carter-224608506.html

Author : The Gainesville Sun

Publish date : 2024-07-18 22:46:08

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