Why Panthers LB Jermaine Carter Feels He has Something To Prove

[KatsAzz]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/.../article252345808.html

Why Carolina Panthers linebacker Jermaine Carter feels he has something to prove

BY JONATHAN M. ALEXANDER

JUNE 25, 2021 12:05 PM

 

Carolina Panthers linebacker Jermaine Carter (56) says he grew up watching the Washington Football Team because of one player: Sean Taylor, a former standout at the University of Miami who was fatally shot during a home invasion during the 2007 NFL season. DANIEL KUCIN JR. AP

It was the Panthers’ Week 14 game against the Denver Broncos, when Jermaine Carter delivered a hit so vicious to Melvin Gordon, you could clearly hear the pop come through the speakers from the television.

Carter got up, stood over Gordon, yelled and flexed his muscles.

Though the celebration drew a costly penalty, the moment showed that Carter plays like he has something to prove. That’s because he does.

 

 

Carter says he’s always been doubted — from the Upper Marlboro Mustangs Boys & Girls Club football team to the NFL. And Carter is set on proving everyone wrong.

 

After starting the season on the bench, the Panthers linebacker became a starter midway through the 2020 season. Coach Matt Rhule said Carter improved tremendously throughout the course of the season, and admitted that the two butted heads early on.But by the end of the season, they were on the same page. Carter played in all 16 games and started the final seven. He finished with 46 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

 

As Carter enters his fourth season in the NFL, he’s expected to play a key role on the Panthers’ defense

 

“Very happy with Jermaine,” Rhule said earlier this month. “From this time last year to here, he knows what to expect. He’s an excellent communicator, gets the guys lined up.”

 

He added that having three linebackers like Carter, Shaq Thompson and Denzel Perryman will give the Panthers a chance to not overextend their players this season as opposed to last year.

 

Carter’s competitiveness derives from growing up with four brothers and seven cousins. They grew up in Washington, D.C., and competed in everything. His father also pushed him.

 

The Observer spoke with Carter in a one-on-one interview about his journey and why he plays with a chip on his shoulder:

 

Q: Did your dad have any experience playing football?

 

Carter: No, my dad was a drum major in a band. He’s always like a leader. He’s always preached to me being a leader, and it kind of came natural to me.

Q: So he’s like Devon Miles (played by Nick Cannon) in “Drumline”?

Carter: He loves “Drumline.” That was one of his favorite movies when it came out.

 

Q: What made you fall in love with football?

Carter: I started playing when I was 7 years old. It was something about — I was able to release my energy and anger. I don’t want to call it anger, because I’m not always angry, but I was able to release some energy and stress on the football field that I couldn’t release anywhere else. And I just fell in love with it. I just love competing.

Q: You say you’ve always had a chip on your shoulder. What type of moments in your life motivated you to prove people wrong.

Carter: Growing up I played for the Upper Marlboro Mustangs. And one season in particular where we kind of went to a different league, and you can bring kids in from all over. So my coach, he brought some kids in from Virginia, and they were playing positions I should have been playing.

They had me playing cornerback, which at the time, I was fine with it, but my dad was like, ‘Man, you’re not a corner, you’re a linebacker.’

 

My dad just drives me. He’s like the little angel on my shoulder telling me, ‘Man, you can’t let them outdo you.’ It kind of stuck with me. I always tell everybody, my dad had a saying growing up. He said “Carters don’t quit. Carters have pride.” So I always take pride in everything I do.

Q: So your dad knows what buttons to push?

Carter: Yeah, he knows how to get me going.

Q: You post a lot of videos on Twitter of you at Maryland laying some hits. Why?

Carter: I always got a chip on my shoulder. I didn’t get recruited very highly in high school. I didn’t even make All-Met in Washington, D.C., which is still crazy to me. I don’t understand. I still hold a grudge for that. And I don’t understand how I wasn’t All-Met because I was a good player.

 

So I went to college with that same chip. There were years when I was up for the (Dick) Butkus Award watch list, but I was not making All-Big Ten. I always felt I was one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten. I felt like I was one of the best linebackers in the draft and I never got the recognition. That kind of what drives me to go so hard. I want to show everybody that I belong.

Q: Was there a team you were hoping offered you, but didn’t?

Carter: My dream school was Miami. I was a huge, huge Sean Taylor fan. Even to this day. So I grew up watching (Washington Football Team). I saw how hard he played every week, and I wanted to model myself after that.

Q: What in particular about his game did you love?

Carter: I just love competing. I feel like football is like a big puzzle. If you do your job, all 11 guys on the defense, if they do your job, it just fits perfect. I just love the game. Love competing.

 

I’m a problem solver. In school I was never the best at writing essays, but I was definitely good at math. Anything that I could take my time to figure out, and solve a problem, I was good at, and that’s how I look at football. When an offense presents play, as a defense we have to solve that problem.

Q: Both you and Matt Rhule mentioned that you sort of butted heads early on, but it got better. Where did that disagreement happen?

Carter: I’m the type of person that if I don’t know too much about you, I’m not the most communicative person. I’m not the most social person. And they probably looked at that as I didn’t want to be around, or I was being distant. But that’s not the person I am.

I just think it was a big miscommunication. I don’t think it was anything major. Honestly, I think we butted heads, even with my coach, I love football so much and I’m passionate about it, some times I may come off the wrong way ... We didn’t have anything major that happened.

Q: What was it like to prove yourself and win that job at the end of the year?

 

Carter: It definitely meant everything to me. I don’t want to say I thought anything would be handed to me, but when Luke (Kuechly) retired, I was like, it was go time. It was time for me to show what I could do.

And then the new coaching staff came in and they brought guys in. And that’s no slight on the coaching staff, that’s just how it works in the NFL. Everybody has their guys. And I had to earn their trust and I’m OK with that. I’ve been grinding my whole life, so I had no problem doing it that way.

Q: So did that put a chip on your shoulder?

It put me in a perspective that man, I’ve just got to keep working no matter what. Nothing is ever going to be given to me. Nothing at all in life. It’s just how I am as a person. I’ve got to go hard no matter what. It just drove me to go harder in practice and show them that I should be out there playing. And that’s just how I did it ... I learned so much from Luke and I would put that into my own little bucket and try to grow as a player.

Q: Having performed well last year, what’s your goals this year?

 

I want to be the starting linebacker, but most importantly I want to make the playoffs. We haven’t been to the playoffs since I’ve been here ... I just want to make the playoffs and I want to help the team. I want to win the job. I want to be out there and play and be out there and contribute. I want to make plays for the team.

Edited June 26, 2021 by KatsAzz

[Khyber53]

Carter was helped immensely by Tahir Whitehead coming to play here last year. After the loss of the great Luke at MLB, there were mighty big shoes left to fill (and even beyond Luke MLB in Carolina has been our great strength for much of our history).

Whitehead came in and just completely washed out. He played so poorly that the coach took a problem player off the bench and gave him a shot. And Carter made the most of it, and without the spectre of Luke hanging over him.

I really hope Jermaine really brings it this season and becomes the next in a long line of excellent MLBs here, a guy who can set the tone for the defense, bringing both intellect and violence into play. 

Sure would be nice for our defense to put some fear into opposing teams once again.

[MHS831]

I think we "found" him when Norv Turner was at the MD pro day to watch DJ Moore.  He was good at MD, and some thought he was their best Defensive player. 

He is entering his prime, so if you are going to make a move in the NFL, it should happen by year 3 (and he made a move) or a great year 4 is unlikely, and they all know year 4 means second contract

[KatsAzz]

Q: Having performed well last year, what’s your goals this year?

I want to be the starting linebacker, but most importantly I want to make the playoffs. We haven’t been to the playoffs since I’ve been here ... I just want to make the playoffs and I want to help the team. I want to win the job. I want to be out there and play and be out there and contribute. I want to make plays for the team.

[pantherclaw]

Love to see a motivated talented player. 

[bythenbrs]

Maximus:  “Lean and hungry”

Edited June 26, 2021 by bythenbrs

[KatsAzz]

1 hour ago, bythenbrs said:

Maximus:  “Lean and hungry”

Lean,mean,tackling machine. That is what we want linebacker Jermaine Carter to be.

[DaveThePanther2008]

The LBs are, IMO, the weakest part of our defense.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing I just think the other two groups are far more talented.

If Shaq, Carter and Perryman show up our defense is going to be in the upper echelon of this league.

We have 30 days until training camp.   I hope his motivation shows up on the field. 

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

The LBs are, IMO, the weakest part of our defense.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing I just think the other two groups are far more talented.

If Shaq, Carter and Perryman show up our defense is going to be in the upper echelon of this league.

We have 30 days until training camp.   I hope his motivation shows up on the field. 

Although it is arguably the weakest unit on the defense(I would say safety is weaker), I think the potential is high. Shaq is gonna be Shaq but Perryman and Carter do have some genuine upside. 

I don't necessarily think we will have a great defense in 2021, due to youth and the fact that it isn't likely that ALL of our offseason moves will work out. However, I think the floor for the 2021 defense is definitively higher for it than the 2020 unit was. I am genuinely excited to see what we are gonna look like on that side of the ball.

Wish I could say the same about the offense.

[OldhamA]

I mean by 'something to prove' he means 'I'm playing for a contract', right?

Dude is a borderline NFL talent. 

[kungfoodude]

2 hours ago, OldhamA said:

I mean by 'something to prove' he means 'I'm playing for a contract', right?

Dude is a borderline NFL talent. 

Probably. But, maybe he balls out. We will see.

[CarolinaLivin]

“Some things Luke taught me, I’d watch TV copies of other teams, pick up the verbiage they were saying, and he taught me so much of that; how to break down film by situations instead of just watching the whole game, like first down one day, third down another. Little things like that I learned from Luke, and I think it helped me a lot last year. . . he’s going to be a Hall of Famer; he’s one of the best to ever play, so I definitely took advantage of it.”

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/28/panthers-jermaine-carter-shares-what-he-learned-from-luke-kuechly/

[KatsAzz]

3 hours ago, CarolinaLivin said:

“Some things Luke taught me, I’d watch TV copies of other teams, pick up the verbiage they were saying, and he taught me so much of that; how to break down film by situations instead of just watching the whole game, like first down one day, third down another. Little things like that I learned from Luke, and I think it helped me a lot last year. . . he’s going to be a Hall of Famer; he’s one of the best to ever play, so I definitely took advantage of it.”

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/28/panthers-jermaine-carter-shares-what-he-learned-from-luke-kuechly/

I can think of no one o would like better to learn from than Luke Kuechly if i were an upcoming NFL Linebacer.

[SBBlue]

Looks like nearly same article on panthers.com