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 OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson as the reason he decided 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 lineman. 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 not to stay close to home and 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.”
247Sports.com Crystal Ball also 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 official visit to the school last month.
“I had so much good things to say about Miami,” Carter said. “It’s nothing bad about Miami, it’s just I talked to my family about it and Ohio State was the school.”
What Jarquez Carter can bring to Ohio State football
Carter anchors a dominant Newberry defense that could lead the Panthers to the Class 2A state title this season. He’s posted 81 tackles for loss and 26 sacks in 33 career varsity games.
“Physically I can probably work on the run-stopping even more,” Carter said. “Sometimes it’s the competition we play so I get laid back. I want to work more on the technique. I’d say I’ve been working on that.”
Carter said OSU coaches have projected him as a possible nose tackle or three-technique defensive lineman at the college level.
“I’ve got the body type to play both sides,” Carter said. “(Johnson) said I’ve got the speed and strength to play both, so time will tell.”
Newberry High teammate Logan McCloud, who committed to Wofford on Thursday, said Carter’s versatility on defense is a strength.
“He can go play end, he can play nose, he can play defensive tackle and that’s something that a lot of the college coaches that recruit him see,” McCloud said. “Especially his get off, that’s something we work on a lot, getting off the ball. So, I feel like he has a lot of things in his bag that a lot of people haven’t seen yet but they will see it the upcoming season and when he gets into college.”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Newberry High School four-star Class of 2025 DL commits to Ohio State over Florida football
The Gainesville Sun
