The Hurry-Up: Ironton’s Trevor Carter Learning From Teammate and Mentor Reid Carrico, Tony Grimes Moves Up Commitment Date

By Zack Carpenter on June 21, 2020 at 6:35 pm
Reid Carrico
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The Hurry-Up is your nightly dose of updates from the Ohio State football recruiting trail, keeping tabs on the latest from commits and targets from around the country.

Carter growing physically, learning from Carrico

On Friday night, we introduced you to Mentor (Ohio) High School defensive end star Brenan Vernon, a rising sophomore for one of the state’s top programs who is a strong candidate to wind up as the Buckeye State’s No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2023 class.

Tonight, you could consider this Part 2 in our introduction of rising sophomores who could wind up as Ohio’s best in their class, as Ironton High School’s Trevor Carter is another name you are likely to be hearing often over the next couple of years.

Carter, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder listed as an athlete in his recruiting profile, is a teammate of Ohio State 2021 linebacker commit Reid Carrico. Though he has just five offers to his name thus far (Akron, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, Toledo, West Virginia), Carter has been gaining interest all over the Midwest from coaches who see a lot of potential in him.

“As of right now I think I have a lot of growing left to do, but I think I will either end up playing safety or outside linebacker at the next level,” Carter told Eleven Warriors. “I think college coaches like my size, speed and strength for my age. I also think that they see a lot of potential in what I will become in the next couple of years in high school.”

Carter is beginning to acquaint himself with a recruiting process that will start to heat up as he continues to improve on the field and make gains physically.

“Things have been going pretty well for me I think I can say,” Carter said. “Coaches aren’t really allowed to contact me in any way, but I have talked to a couple coaches on the phone. The five schools I have offers from include WVU, Toledo, Akron, Pitt, and Arkansas have shown the most interest in me so far, but I have been in contact from coaches at Notre Dame, Penn State and Virginia Tech as well.”

Though Carter says his communication with Ohio State coaches has been fairly sparse thus far, he has begun to build a relationship with the same coach who recruited Carrico and whom Carrico speaks very highly of.

“Coach Al Washington was down at my high school and gave me his business card, and I have also had conversations with (Ohio State assistant) Ed Terwilliger,” Carter said. “I also have received a couple letters from Ohio State as well.

“Reid hasn’t talked to me much about Coach Washington, but I know he thinks very highly of him. I’d like to talk to him more about that kind of stuff soon and I’m sure I will.”

And speaking of Carrico, the future Mike linebacker in Columbus was at the head of Ironton’s 13-2 season in 2019, which included a run to the Division IV state championship game in which the Tigers fell, 17-7, to Kirtland. 

Though Carrico and Carter did not playing that much together – only in four or five games, says Carter – the younger Tiger has still able to glean a lot of advice from Carrico, both in football and in the recruiting process itself. 

“I can tell you that I’ve learned a lot from him. He’s the hardest working guy on the team, and he plays every play 110 miles per hour,” Carter said. “He never lets up and doesn’t stop until we’re up by 40. He’s a great kid overall and an amazing role model for kids like me or younger. He’s taught me to work hard and give great effort in everything that I do, and I think that has helped me to get to where I am right now. 

“He’s also told me that it’s easy to let all of this go to your head and you just have to stay humble about it. He said that people are going to hate once offers and fame starts to roll in, but you just have to ignore them and, if they are hating, to prove them wrong.”

Both Carter and Carrico should play an integral part in how Ironton does in a 2020 season in which the program will be looking to get back to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

“We lost a good amount of solid players last year, but I definitely think we can make it back to that state game this year and hopefully take it all this time,” Carter said. “It’s definitely the drive behind everything we’re doing as a team. I felt so bad for the seniors that had to end their last season like that, and I don’t want to see another senior class go out like that. I’m planning on winning a couple in these next couple of years.”

When asked to state his goals for himself this season, Carter said that he just wants “to help my team succeed in any way possible. Anything I can do to help our team bring home a ring I’m gonna do it.”

Carter could have a major role in that team success, however, so improvement in his own game will make an impact. And despite gyms being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter says he has been growing physically during the offseason.

He says his bench press has gone up from 195 pounds to 255, squad from about 295 pounds to 355, his power clean from about 185 pounds to 270, and his 40-yard dash time is now between 4.6-4.7 seconds with a 100-meter sprint time of about 11.7 seconds. 

“I’ve been stretching a lot because I’m not very flexible but it’s getting much better. I’ve also just been working on my strength and trying to gain weight a lot,” Carter said. “I think I’ve gotten a lot faster as well as putting on about 10-15 pounds since last season. My clean squat and bench have all also gone up a lot.”

Be on the lookout for Carter this fall as he continues to grow, and even though it probably would not happen for a while, he is a candidate to earn an Ohio State offer at some point in the future if he doesn’t get complacent and continues to show physical and mental growth. 

Grimes, Burton move commitment dates

Five-star rising senior Tony Grimes, the nation's No. 1-ranked cornerback, has announced that he will be committing on June 30, moving his plans up from a previously planned date of Dec. 1.

There had been some belief that Grimes was planning to move that date up, and now that decision's been made public.

Grimes cut his list down to four on June 1, featuring Georgia, Ohio State, North Carolina and Texas A&M.

Ohio State's odds here weren't great as is, and for the Buckeyes to have a real shot in landing Grimes, they would need to get him on campus one more time, since he hasn't visited since April 2019. With him moving his date up, it further cements that Grimes will be choosing elsewhere, with Georgia and North Carolina the heavy favorites.

Kentucky offensive lineman Jager Burton, another one of the Buckeyes’ top remaining uncommitted targets, went the opposite way in announcing on Sunday that he is altering his decision timeline.

While Grimes is pushing his commitment date up, Burton has elected to push his back, past his previously planned Aug. 24 commitment date.

While Grimes’ decision to make a commitment sooner appears to be a major negative for Ohio State, Burton’s decision to delay is a resounding positive for Greg Studrawa and Co., as it gives the Buckeyes (and the other programs on his top five of Kentucky, Clemson, Alabama and Oregon) another shot to get him on campus before he makes a decision. 

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