Duron Carter

Duron Carter (born March 22, 1991) is an American gridiron football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. Carter was most recently a member of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He is the son of NFL Hall of Fame player Cris Carter, and played college football at Ohio State and Coffeyville Community College, but off-field issues and academic ineligibility prevented him continuing to play in Division I football.^[1] He also attended Alabama and Florida Atlantic but did not play in a game for either school. He entered the 2013 NFL Draft but was not selected.^[2] Carter had a tryout for the Minnesota Vikings in 2013, but was not offered a contract.^[3] He then played two years with the Alouettes before signing with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL).

Early years

Carter attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he played football, basketball, and ran track. Playing as a wide receiver for Coach George Smith, he led the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders to back-to-back Florida state 5A titles in 2007 and 2008. The Raiders 15-0 record earned them No. 1 ranking in America among prep teams. He recorded 39 receptions for 739 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior, and was selected to play in the Under Armour All-America Game. Carter earned first-team All-Broward honors and was an Orlando Sentinel All-Southern. While at St. Thomas, Carter was teammates with Phillip Dorsett, who would become his Indianapolis Colts teammate in 2015.^[4]

He was regarded as a four-star prospect by Rivals.com and was ranked as the No. 11 wide receiver in the country. He was also ranked No. 90 in the Rivals 100 Super Prep Florida Top 20.

College career

Ohio State (2009)

As a true freshman at Ohio State, Carter played in 12 games, and was sixth on the team with 13 receptions for 178 yards (13.5 yards per catch). Like his father, he caught a touchdown as an OSU freshman with a five-yard grab against Indiana in the fifth game of the season. He also returned two punts for 24 yards with a long of 20 yards and made one tackle on special teams. Carter was declared academically ineligible for Ohio State’s appearance in the Rose Bowl game following the 2009 regular season, an issue that also kept him out of spring practice in 2010. He left the Buckeyes in June of that year and enrolled at a junior college in Kansas.

Junior College (2010)

Carter spent his sophomore season at Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas, where he proved to be a playmaker in the receiving corps. He recorded 44 receptions for 690 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2010, helping guide the Red Ravens to a 6-5 record and a berth in the Graphic Edge Bowl. However, once Carter was eligible for the NFL Draft in 2014 his quarterback (Cayden Cochran) tweeted the following:

"The team that drafts Duron Carter will get the most lazy, whiny & non-work ethic player the nfl has ever seen. I played w/him. Horrible person & will be a complete cancer to any team on the board."

Alabama (2011)

Carter transferred into the Alabama program in the summer of 2011 after spending the 2010 season at Coffeyville Community College and 2009 at Ohio State. After transferring to Alabama in April 2011 from the JUCO ranks, eligibility issues again involving academics kept him from practicing with the Tide until late August. It was announced in late September 2011 that Carter would not play that season and would instead take a redshirt. He was suspended for spring practice that year, which prompted him to take his leave of Tuscaloosa and officially transfer to FAU.

Florida Atlantic (2012)

Carter transferred to Florida Atlantic (FAU) for his senior season in 2012, but his petition to play immediately was turned down.^[5]

Professional career

Montreal Alouettes (2013–2014)

After going undrafted in 2013, Carter had a tryout for the Minnesota Vikings but was not offered a contract. On June 23, 2013, Carter signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League and joined the practice roster.^[6] On August 24, 2013, He made his CFL debut against the BC Lions.^[7] Carter played in 12 of the 18 regular season games with the Als and 1 playoff game in the 2013 CFL season. He had an outstanding first season in the CFL, amassing 909 yards (over 75 yards per game) and 5 touchdowns. His second season in the CFL would prove to be equally as impressive as his first. Carter appeared in 15 of the 18 regular season games, as well as 2 playoff games. He finished the season with 1,030 receiving yards on 75 catches, with 7 touchdowns. In the playoffs, he totalled 5 receptions for 43 yards with a touchdown.

Indianapolis Colts (2015)

Carter originally planned to hold a Pro Day for all NFL teams to attend in early January 2015, an idea which was later scrubbed in favor of personal meetings/workouts with various NFL teams. The first four teams with which Carter had meetings and workouts for were the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts. Carter also had a workout with the Carolina Panthers on January 14, 2015.^[8] Other NFL clubs which have expressed their interest in the wide-out included the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans.^[9] On January 25, NFL.com reported that the Colts were the frontrunners to sign Carter.^[10] Two days later, several sources reported that Carter had agreed to sign a contract with the Colts.^[11] It was also reported that, contrary to earlier reports, Carter could sign with an NFL team immediately due to an agreement with the Alouettes, rather than wait until February 10 when he officially became a free agent.^[12]

On February 2, 2015, the Colts announced that Carter had signed a 3-year, $1.575 million contract with the team. Only $25,000 of his contract is guaranteed for 2015, and he did not receive a signing bonus.^[13][14]

On September 5, 2015, the Indianapolis Colts announced they had cut Carter from the team.^[15] He signed to the Colts' practice squad on September 6.^[16] After the season ended, Carter was not signed to a future/reserve contract by Indianapolis, and became a free agent on January 12, 2016.^[17]

Montreal Alouettes (2016)

On January 23, 2016, Carter signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Alouettes.^[18] On June 30, 2016, Carter was ejected from a game following a touchdown celebration that would result in Ottawa Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell being knocked down.^[19] Carter would also be fined by General Manager and Head Coach Jim Popp for the incident for an undisclosed amount.^[20] Carter was subsequently suspended for one game by the CFL.^[21] On July 7 2016 the CFLPA announced that they had filed an appeal of Duron Carter's one-game suspension, believe to be on the grounds that Carter suffered a concussion on the touchdown reception and was thus his judgment was impaired for the subsequent interaction with the Redblacks bench.^[22] Carter will be eligible to play until the conclusion of the appeal.^[23] On August 17 the appeal went before an independent arbitrator who delayed a verdict until after the Al's Week 9 match against the Ottawa Redblacks later that week.^[24] Heading into Week 11 the arbitrator upheld Duron Carter's one-game suspension, meaning Carter would miss the third and final regular season matchup against Ottawa.^[25] Rakeem Cato was named the starting QB for their Week 12 game, and in his first practice as the starting QB Cato and Carter got into a heated argument.^[26] A little over a week later Cato once again got into a heated argument at practice with Carter, this time also involving wide receiver Kenny Stafford.^[27] Following their Week 17 loss to the Stampeders Carter was released from the Montreal Alouettes, only 3 weeks from the end of the season. Fellow wide receiver Kenny Stafford was also released by the Al's.^[28] Carter would finish his 2016 season having played in 14 games catching 61 passes for 938 yards with 5 touchdowns.

In late November 2016 TSN corresponded Gary Lawless reported that Duron Carter had narrowed down his options down to three West Division teams; the Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and the Calgary Stampeders.

References

External links

• Montreal Alouettes bio
• CFL profile