Jarquez Carter went through his official visits and by the time they concluded in late June he settled on his college choice. The Newberry (Fla.) High defensive lineman has a final five of Florida, Miami, Ohio State, Penn State and UCF.
He is making his college pick Thursday at 5 p.m. on the 247Sports YouTube channel.
He made official visits to each of the programs, he is well versed with each program, and there are common themes with each of the programs.
“Schools that are stable,” the 6-foot-2, 284-pound Carter said. “It was stability and a defense I feel fits my style of play.”
That style is allowing defensive linemen on the interior getting up the field instead of just taking on blocks and allowing linebackers to make many of the plays. Carter showed that ability as a junior when he made 67 tackles, including nine sacks.
The ability to be developed by and having a relationship with the defensive line coach at each school were a big part of the decision as well.
“They are very important,” Carter said. “All the schools I put on the list have the best d-line coaches in the country, so the d-line coach is a very big part.”
His official visits began at Florida during the first weekend of June. He followed that with visits to Penn State, UCF, Ohio State (midweek) and Miami.
Coming out of those trips, Carter settled on his future program.
“I’ve known the school I want to go to for (a while and I feel like the process is a little overwhelming,” he said. “I already know the school I want to go to so I am going to announce the decision right now.”
The process began 18 months ago when UCF offered in January 2023, and a bunch of offers became rolling in during that spring.
Between visits, speaking with and working out for coaches and researching schools, Carter was busy. In fact, that led to his biggest surprise in the process.
“How overwhelming it gets,” he said. “I thought it was going to be smooth and enjoyable. It was at first, but I am ready to get it over with.”
It is not all stressful, though, and he was able to experience a lot of things, including the most memorable moment of his recruitment.
“The Colorado visit and being able to meet (coach) Deion (Sanders) and (rappers) BossMan Dlow, Lil Wayne, and all those people,” Carter said. “It was amazing.”
