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Quinton Carter arrived at Oklahoma in January in 2006 without much fanfare. How could he? The Las Vegas native was heading to college to play a position (safety) he had only taken up a few months before. Carter had been a running quarterback in high school and had only been partially moved to defense his senior year because his high school coach believed it was the best way for college coaches to see his talent.

That alone doesn’t make Carter’s story unique. That kind of thing happens all the time in college football. Running backs become linebackers.
Linebackers become defensive linemen, etc....
About the only thing that’s guaranteed is nobody takes their first snap as a quarterback in college and no one attempts their first kick at that level either.

Everything else can be learned under the proper tutelage. The only essential ingredient is athletic ability.

Well, Carter had that. The only problem was showcasing it.

“I think the biggest part for me is staying healthy. So that is what I am focusing on,” Carter said.
The Sooner coaching staff was in unison when it came to Carter’s situation.

“We always felt that if Quinton could just stay healthy he could be a good player for us and would help us,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said.

“Healthy” was the missing part of the equation.
Carter spent 2006 playing in a limited role. He earned a solid reputation as a special teams player. He redshirted in 2007. Time on the field in any other capacity was limited because the Sooners had a veteran unit.

Lendy Holmes and Nic Harris solidified themselves as pillars of the Sooner secondary during that period. Unseating them was next to impossible anytime before 2009.

But opportunities have a way of presenting themselves. Carter’s arose in a very unlikely manner. Who would have thought an injury at linebacker would have jettisoned him into the lineup?

But that’s what happened. When middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament against Texas, the coaching staff was in a conundrum. It had Kansas coming to Norman the followingweek, knowing the Jayhawks were like many pass-happy teams in the Big 12 Conference.

Did they want to try break in a new middle linebacker that week or make a switch that had the potential to bolster their secondary?
Carter made the decision a little easier.

“Quinton wouldn’t have any busts day after day,” secondary coach Bobby Jack Wright recalled. “And we’d do the old knock on wood thing and … hope he could perform that well on Saturday. Because he was kind of an unknown quantity.”

More like unproven.

OU’s coaches have always liked what they’ve seen from Carter. Put him in pads and out on the field and he made plays. There just were not many days he could show off his skills as the Sooners prepared for the 2008 season.

Carter’s spring was cause lost due to a hamstring injury. Anyone who’s ever had a hamstring injury knows the frustration. After a couple days everything may feel better — but one excessive strain puts everything back at square one.
There’s virtually nothing else that can make the injury go away than rest.

Carter recovered from that well enough. But August only brought more frustration.

Arthroscopic knee surgery benched him for the first three games.

“Two-a-days were going real well and I was rotating with the one’s, and then the thing happened the last week of two-a-days,” Carter recalled of the knee injury. “That really shot me down, but like I said, I had my parents pushing me, guys on the team pushing me. They were telling me that I had come too close to being a big part of the team to let up. They just told me to keep pushing.”

(Editor's Note: This is just a portion of a feature that appears in the Nov. 28 issue of Sooner Spectator. To read the rest of the story, subscribe today for only $39.95, and get 12 big issues over the next year! Call toll free 1-877-841-8877 or subscribe on-line....)