Journey to the Pros: Jaylen Carter

 The 2022 HFL Draft was undoubtedly one of the most special moments for our family. I, Jameel Carter, sat in the Green Room with our entire family, as we watched my younger brother Jaylen realize the culmination of a lifelong dream. I wanted to take this moment, and use my platform, to share his story, because he earned it and we are so so so so proud of him. 

The story of Jaylen’s recruiting process really goes back to that of my own, so I do need to provide a recap of how that went to inform the uninitiated. So, I burst onto the recruiting radar during his Junior year at City View High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. I had transferred from Wichita Falls High School (Class 5A) to City View (3A) after being stuck on Junior Varsity for my first two years, and had a strained relationship with a few of the coaches on the staff. I really shined at CVHS - as a Wildcat Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver, Defensive Back, and occasional Linebacker - but there were a few pundits that only thought I was tearing up 3A (less impressive in nature). However, many scouts and coaches became aware of my talents after seeing me run a legitimate 4.3 forty and knowing about my versatility on the field, rewriting the CVHS weightlifting record books, and starring as a Point Guard too. Thus, some recruiting services had me as a 4-star Athlete and others had evaluated me with that fifth star. Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown was among many in the country that saw tape on the do-it-all Athlete out of Wichita Falls and really really really liked what he saw. But the Longhorns were struggling and Mack was on his way out the door. Thus, no offer from UT-Austin ever ended up being mailed to the Carter household (Charlie Strong and his staff must have really dropped the ball in their first year) and, for a period of time, I really took that to heart. Junior in high school Jameel really wanted to be a Longhorn football player - in some senses, the validation of a tremendous young athlete growing up in the Lonestar State. You all know the rest of my story; three years at Kansas A&M University, a year at Little Rock College, and a cup of coffee (two years) as an undrafted free agent for the San Francisco 49ers.

Years go by, and Mack ends up returning to his old stomping grounds in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mack is tasked with rebuilding this downtrodden program, coming off of a 2-9 season. Obviously, Mack inherits a substandard recruiting class but gets right to work in salvaging some sort of Year 1 class, including flipping All-Everything Quarterback Sam Howell from Florida State. Next, he aims to contact some old scouts and high school coaches that he knows from his days in Texas, in order to find a piece or two that is "under the radar". In this quest, he finds out about my little brother. Jaylen is a lightly recruited 3* Safety, with a long and wiry 6'2" frame - built much differently than Jameel, who was more compact. Also, Jaylen didn't have the natural athletic gifts of Jameel, namely the bona fide low 4.3 speed or the 575 squat. Jaylen current offers have included Bowling Green (Texas natives Mike Jinks and Seth Doege on the coaching staff), FCS schools such as Campbell (Head Coach Mike Minter and Defensive Coordinator David Price, who would later be another one of his advisors to “take the UNC offer”), East Tennessee State, and Prairie View A&M, and even a couple of Division II offers from Texas A&M-Commerce, Southeastern Oklahoma State, and University of Texas-Permian Basin. Jaylen was verbally committed to Kansas A&M and expected to sign there in February, seen as much more of a 2-3 year developmental project. Mack knew he had a second, and final, chance to coach one of the Carter brothers and, Lord have mercy, was he NOT going to miss this one.

He put his ace recruiter and newly minted Defensive Backs Coach, Dre Bly, on the case. In a sped up recruiting process, that included Bly flying out to Wichita Falls and having a nationally renowned private skills coach, who specializes in Defensive Backs, meet him out there to work out Jaylen. They went through the rest of the recruiting process, and the Tar Heel staff made a very strong impression on Jaylen, the Carter parents, and the coaches and administration staff at CVHS. There was only one more person that Coaches Brown, Bly, and Bateman needed to convince; Jaylen’s older brother. Yours truly had some very real concerns; whether Mack and the Staff were truly serious about Jaylen and his future, whether a pushing-70 head coach still had it in him to coach at this kind of level, and what was the direction of the football program at a noted basketball school. After all, I had witnessed first hand, our cousins Davion and Trey go Division I and see their careers not turn out the way they had hoped - Davion at Miami and later San Diego State, Trey at Georgia and later East Mississippi Community College and UTEP. Eventually, I came around - like everyone else - to the fact that this was, indeed, the best decision for Jaylen. Sure enough, by February, the Tar Heels were able to flip this commitment from the Amber Wave. 

Being a late signee, Jaylen was not on campus for spring ball, and arrived in May. He really hit the ground running in summer conditioning programs and picked up Coach Bateman's defense incredibly quickly on film. When fall camp rolls around, Jaylen is running with the 2s at Free Safety for what looks like a depleted UNC roster. Right away, people around the program notice that "this cat is just different". Not that he's more physically gifted than everyone else, but he immediately becomes a quarterback of the Secondary, and he carries himself with this calming influence (not quite as loud and emotional as his older brother, Jameel was more of the "Rah!Rah!" guy in the locker room and on the practice field). He earns the respect and trust of his coaching staff and teammates and immediately becomes a starter. The Tar Heels shock everyone by beating South Carolina and Miami out of the gate, en route to a 7-win season and a bowl victory that nobody saw coming this quickly in the rebuild.

Jaylen goes on to absolutely star for three years as a starting Safety for the Tar Heels and gets drafted in the 2nd Round by the New Orleans Saints, being traded to the Washington Football Team about halfway through his rookie year.

• Jameel Carter