LJ FB: Carter's playing days

Jason Carter, LJHS head football coach, in his

playing days at Texas A&M.

 

 

Jason Carter was a "dual threat" in his playing days in high school and college. He played quarterback, as well as wide receiver. That's the name of his football camp that he offers to young athletes during the summer.

 

His mentoring of Collin Rugg, the Vikings' record-setting quarterback in 2013 and 2014, was based on Carter's offensive prowess and knowledge, which comes out of his own playing experience.

 

Rugg sat at the foot of Carter, so to speak, from the moment La Jolla High renovated its failing football program by the hiring of the offensive coordinator from La Jolla Country Day in spring 2013. That posture, of experienced player and coach discipling a young player, was repeated many times over the next 21 months.

 

Rugg was a young man who had stood on the sidelines most of his sophomore year, 2012, keeping a clipboard and not enjoying the maturation that comes from actually being in the heat of the battle. He had no "trial by fire", really, until he was Carter's starter in the first game in August 2013.

 

Nobody knew how the program would do, with a complete overhaul of the coaching staff, a new weight room configuration in which the old walls were knocked out, and an almost cultish dedication in which athletes were required to make a time commitment to football that had not been seen at La Jolla High.

 

Some prospects and players under the previous regime dropped out due to that time commitment. There were bowling nights, pizza nights, and eventually a walk down Prospect Ave. to promote a new Bishop's-La Jolla rivalry, which had not been seen at least during this reporter's 11 years covering the program.

 

Carter, before official workouts began, recently said, "We're vertically challenged." He means the current edition of the Vikings are not big on height. But Carter, who is not a tall man himself, knows how to compete and to bring that competitive ability out of others of similar stature--he made it to the Carolina Panthers with his particular package of skills and physique.

 

This season's starting quarterback, Casey Brown, is not a big man. Neither is the Vikings' star returning receiver, Trenton Fudge, who scored a touchdown in the Black and Red Scrimmage Sat., Aug. 15.

 

 

Copyright 2015 Ed Piper