It might seem like a lifetime for Matt Carrick, his time at Michigan State. But it’s only been six years since the 2017 Perry High School graduate began his college football journey with the Spartans.
Carrick has done a lot in those six years, earning two bachelor’s degrees, progressing to a master’s degree, and overcoming various injuries to play 47 games in total. Along the way, he played for two head coaches in a program that played four bowl games, won 10 games twice and reached a national ranking as high as No. 5 during his time with the Spartans. .
Now Carrick is focused on the 2023 NFL Draft and earning an opportunity he’s dreamed of pursuing since he was 5 years old.
“Right now, at this point in my career, I’m good enough to play on Sundays,” Carrick said. “It’s always been a dream for me.”
After spending his freshman year at Michigan State and then playing mostly special teams in 11 games in 2018, Carrick was a primary guard in three of the next four seasons, which included season COVID 2020 abridged. He started 27 games in total. Unfortunately, injuries have plagued Carrick throughout his Spartan career, including a torn ACL in 2021 and a high ankle sprain last season in which he started all nine games he played. Although it seemed like one minor setback after another, Carrick took them all as life lessons and found ways to benefit from them while being sidelined.
“When it happened, I wasn’t necessarily thinking how bad the situation was, but how I was recovering from it,” Carrick said. “Because when I came to MSU I was injured. It was the same type of injury. I didn’t get to where I wanted to be after that injury. It’s something I wanted to do, and I just have to make the choice that I was going to.
“It’s hard to release a movie when you’re injured like that. The big question for me right now is reliability, but I talk about that during my pre-game draft, and to make sure I’m ready to go so that’s no longer… (a) question.
Michigan State finished 5-7 (3-6 in the Big Ten) last season. With no bowl game opportunities, the Minerva native focused on preparing for the NFL. Between now and his pro day, Carrick wants to focus more on his inside lineman skills. So he reached out to retired NFL center Olin Kreutz, a six-time Pro Bowler during his 14-season NFL career, mostly with the Chicago Bears.
Carrick thinks working with someone like that can help him “take a giant step towards becoming a really good football player who can play on Sundays”.
Carrick will likely be considered an offensive guard by NFL teams. He won’t hesitate to move into the center and he has been working on football for over a year and a half. He is also open to playing tackle, should the opportunity arise for him.
“That’s something I want to get out of this more than anything,” Carrick said. “I still have to do well with combined stuff, but the most important thing is that I want me to improve in football.”
Following:‘I knew Ohio State was the right choice’: Willtrell Hartson is Buckeyes’ favorite extra
Attitude, Effort and Tenacity Defined the Days as Perry Panther
Long before he was a Spartan, Carrick was a Perry Panther. And that’s where he learned his three keys to success: attitude, effort and tenacity. Carrick presented all of this while he was at Perry. Among his notable high school achievements:
- Helped Perry reach two consecutive Division II state championship games in 2015-16.
- Earned All-Ohio honors each of his three years as a Perry starter (2014-16).
- Ranked among the top offensive guard prospects in the nation by Scout.com (#35), ESPN.com (#42) and 247Sports (#49).
- Ranked among Ohio State’s top overall prospects by ESPN.com (#22), Rivals.com (#36), and 247Sports (#39).
- Named Stark County “Lineman of the Decade” in 2020 by the Canton Repository.
- Led the way to Keishaun Sims County’s record rushing 3,224 yards in 2015, as Sims was named Ohio’s Mr. Football that season.
While Carrick was at Perry, the Panthers were at the peak of program success under head coach Keith Wakefield. Their wing-T attack, propelled by Carrick and others, became unstoppable at times.
“It’s kind of funny looking back at Perry and what we were able to accomplish going to the state championship twice,” Carrick said. “This attack allows you to succeed with less talented players, but I would say it is also an attack that relies on attitude, effort and tenacity. I feel like those were the three big things Coach Wakefield and Coach (Zach) Slates instilled in us as a team. And to be a great team, you have to have these three characteristics. Looking back when I played Perry, I would say our team was the epitome of toughness.”
Carrick played both ways for the Panthers and was their vocal leader as well. Although primarily a run blocker, he began to gain notice from varsity coaches after his junior season.
Slates observed Carrick’s development first hand as the team’s offensive line coach.
“He was one of those guys who had an attitude and was a bad player. When he was leading, you heard him talking,” said Slates, who is entering his third year as Perry’s head coach after the retirement from Wakefield. “It was good to have guys like that, especially on the offensive line. … He had that tough attitude that you have to have to be a great offensive lineman in this offense. “
Carrick then signed with Michigan State. Coming from a heavy offense, his freshman year was a time of transition as he worked on his pass protection while recovering from an ACL injury he suffered during the North-South All-Star game in 2017.
“I say the big difference between then and now is that Perry was always about running the ball, and what I quickly had to find out when I got to college is that you have to pass the block too. , so I struggled with that early in my career,” Carrick said.
Slates is looking forward to Carrick’s trip to the NFL. He’s confident an NFL team will be happy to have him on the roster.
“I’m excited for him,” Slates said. “Not everyone was able to get the opportunity, and he put himself in a position with his efforts to give himself an opportunity to play at this level.”
Playing against Dominique Robinson, Thayer Munford Jr.
If Carrick is selected in the NFL Draft, he will be the third Stark County player to be drafted in the past two years. Dominique Robinson (McKinley) and Thayer Munford Jr. (Massillon) are playing their rookie seasons in the league with the Bears and Raiders, respectively.
“I think it’s really big, considering I feel like Stark County is like one of the hotbeds of great football,” Carrick said. “To see across the country and stuff like that, I feel like Stark County is definitely home to a lot of good football players. It’s really nice to see guys playing at the next level, especially the different guys I’ve played against. This is the story of Stark County looking back at all the great players who managed to do it.
Carrick remembers playing against Robinson when he was a quarterback at McKinley, before the latter became a defensive end at the University of Miami en route to the Chicago Bears, taking him to the fifth round of the draft. last year.
“He was a really good quarterback at the time. I didn’t know he had made the transition to defensive end,” Carrick said. “I could definitely see how big he was. was a huge quarterback.
Carrick also mentioned his encounters with Munford. They played against each other in high school and were teammates in the North-South game. Once the two met in the Big Ten, they always greeted each other whenever Ohio State played at Michigan State.
“I really like Thayer,” Carrick said. “He’s a really good guy. I actually played with Thayer in the North-South game and got close to him. He’s a really nice guy. Obviously when we were playing against the university, we always said ‘wasup’ after the game.
Building relationships is Matt Carrick’s legacy at Michigan State
Now that Carrick is a graduate of MSU, he looks back on all the memorable moments he had as a Spartan.
Carrick has spent his fair share of time playing with talented players offensively, like running back Kenneth Walker III, who now plays for the Seattle Seahawks.
“When you have guys like that who have been able to play at that high level and just be around them,” Carrick said. “As an offensive lineman, it makes your job a lot easier because they’ve been able to make plays even when sometimes there’s no room to make plays. It certainly makes your job easier as an offensive lineman and also makes you appreciate them a lot.
Carrick believed his legacy was not just the way he approached the game, but also the way he approached people. He preaches honesty around his teammates and coaches, and for that he is rewarded with long-term relationships with them after football.
“I always wanted to be the guy that was remembered to be real all the time,” Carrick said. “Never pretend and always 100% with everyone in the building. Also, the most important thing I will remember from Michigan State is all the different relationships I was able to build with so many people from so many different backgrounds.
Following:Ron Stokes is retired from dunk but going strong as Ohio State basketball icon