Duron Carter is 'Bama Bound

Last time you will see him in a Buckeye uniform

We all at least thought that when Duron Carter left Ohio State last year for Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, that he would be back, a better person and player, ready to take on the responsibility of being a STUDENT- athlete at The Ohio State University. He would break the records set by his father and at least equal if not surpass him in Buckeye football lore. All these expectations from a player who caught ONE touchdown pass as a freshman.

This past season Carter has 44 catches, 690 yards and 10 touchdowns in 11 games for Coffeyville. Interesting that he could not break over 1,000 yards playing for a Community College team but boasts plans to be a star at in a very high profile, high pressure atmosphere. I like most of you follow Ohio State players on Twitter. I followed Duron for much of last year and even Twitter I could probably tell you how important grades and getting back to Ohio State was to him. Not very important at all. Of course when he arrived, it was all about getting the grades improved and getting back to Ohio State. Somewhere along the course of the year, that all changed. The tweets became about recruiting visits, girls and not so much about school. We learned earlier this year that he would not be coming back to Ohio State for an undisclosed reason, most likely, in my mind, academics were still a problem. They might not have been, but I do not see the son of a former Buckeye, who had a chance to do great things as a Buckeye, choosing to play elsewhere unless that was the only choice. It is very interesting to me that he is now academically eligible to participate in football at Alabama.


In my mind the expectations of academics at Ohio State and Alabama would be very similar, but apparently not. Cris Carter is, as any parent should, supporting his son in this decision but it does make you wonder if academics were the only issues Duron had at Ohio State. ESPN quoted Cris as saying “It's a combination of the coaching and the structure and for Duron's maturity. All of those things make it a good match." Does Nick Saban really have more structure than Jim Tressel?

Currently Duron is throwing out that red Alabama clay with ‘Roll Tide’ tweets as fast as he can type and Buckeye fans seem to be slinging it right back. He has even gone as far as to state that Alabama is going to win another national title before he is done playing college football. They very well might, only time will tell if over-signing will work out for them. Another tweet of his caught my eye…"Hate fuels my fire so im definitely BLAZING RITE NOW!!!!!!!#ROLLTIDE".

I wonder if he is directing this statement towards the Ohio State fans he has been interacting with on Twitter, the University or the Athletic Department. Is this all about grades or was something else going on which made it difficult to let Mr. Carter return. The Lantern has an interesting commentary on Duron written by Michael Periatt and I whole-heartedly agree with this statement, and much of the article..."But OSU proved that every student — no matter what they do on Saturday afternoons in the fall — still has to be a student. That might sound redundant, and it's sad that a school has to be commended for enforcing education, but denying Duron is not something every school would do." I will not pretend to know what went on other than a bad academic performance at Ohio State but if this is how Duron chooses to act and to conduct his life, then I wish him luck, he will certainly need it.