How Michigan landed Anthony Carter
Q&A by Dr. Sap with Bill McCartney at mvictors.com
SS: I heard that while you got AC’s mother to sign his Letter of Intent, getting his father to sign it was a little more involved. Did you and Bo actually go into the Florida Everglades to get Carter’s father to sign his LOI?
BM: Yes, it’s true.
SS: Bo literally rolled up his pant-legs, took off his shoes and socks and walked into the Florida Everglades to get Anthony’s dad to sign his Letter of Intent?
BM: Yes. (laughs!) The old man was foaming at the mouth to get AC!
February 16th, 2015 at 10:04 PM ^
And then had to literally chase him around airports to get him to stay in Ann Arbor.
Anthony is Anthony. Sounds like his family was the same way.
February 16th, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 10:43 PM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 10:54 PM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 11:10 PM ^
When said player is hands down the most talented guy on the roster, and the one around whom you're building an entirely new pass-friendly offense...
Although the story as I've always heard it is one assistant tracked him down, got him on the phone with Bo from the airport, and Anthony went and got on the plane anyway. And his mother put him back on the plane the next day.
February 17th, 2015 at 6:35 PM ^
A new pass friendly offense that probably seemed designed for a certain #4 to step into a few years later.
February 17th, 2015 at 9:02 AM ^
It was the team, but Bo loved his players as individuals too. What was best for the team, was to get Anthony Carter back in Ann Arbor. There were lots of stories like that.
February 17th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^
Is AC got so homesick it became debilitating and the staff recognized it was very difficult on the kid. Obviously Bo and AC did right by each other
February 17th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
After AC didn't show up for practice, Coach Thornbladh chased him through the airport and found him in the video arcade; he put him on the phone with Bo and presumably let him have it.
Thorn asked AC what Bo said, and AC said, "Yeah, Bo said I could go home." So he heads home, no problem.
Later, Thorn asked Bo why he told AC he could go home. "I didn't tell him he could leave!" Bo hollered back.
Turns out AC was a bit homesick, and one rather crafty dude.
February 17th, 2015 at 9:46 AM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^
Carter was an electric performer who changed the way football was played at Michigan under Bo.
February 16th, 2015 at 10:41 PM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 10:56 PM ^
Read the link in the bottom left of the article about more Bo recruiting stories. The man worked it hard.
http://mvictors.com/how-bo-nabbed-the-1-high-school-qb-storytime-with-s…
February 16th, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
February 17th, 2015 at 1:09 AM ^
February 17th, 2015 at 2:49 AM ^
It's scary when you look at the list of "Top 100 1980 recruits" and you realize that only about 10 of them are names you recognize.
'Crootin was, and still remains, a crap shoot.
Although Steve Smith never made it as an NFL player, he was better at Michigan than people give him credit for. He was the Marcus Mariota of his day. He would kill it in today's offenses.
February 17th, 2015 at 4:00 AM ^
February 17th, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
he was a very good RB. not a very good passer. great at the QB draw though.
February 17th, 2015 at 5:14 PM ^
He was not very accurate from the pocket. Third and long was a problem.
That's why he would be good in today's spread systems that let him make a single pass read while on the move, and not try to sit in the pocket and make multiple reads. He was good at that.
February 17th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^
I was shocked to see an OL from Trenton that was a top 50 recruit at 6'3" 238lbs! I grew up in the wrong era!
February 17th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^
Buster Rhymes at 41...lol
February 16th, 2015 at 10:44 PM ^
February 17th, 2015 at 2:05 PM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 10:50 PM ^
we were getting worked on and i finally realized that he had legs that were as skinny as a deer. heck of a ball player, but he didn't particularly look the part.
February 16th, 2015 at 11:00 PM ^
A deer, a rabbit, a racehorse, Anthony Carter . . . they all had those spindly legs that look fragile, but let them fly and change directions on a dime.
February 17th, 2015 at 2:20 PM ^
I think he was listed at 5-11, 161 lbs.
February 16th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ^
I was fortunate enough to know AC pretty well when he was in Ann Arbor. For all his talent, he was a very quiet and humble guy. Bo really loved him, and I believe it was AC's talent that led to Bo throwing the ball more. If Zeke was his host, that was an excellent choice. Zeke was one of AC's closet friends on the team.
February 16th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ^
I had a paper route (delivering the ann arbor news when it was a real paper) and he and others on the team were on my route. I don't remember what year it was, but he had an apartment on Pauline between Stadium & S. Maple. I remember thinking it was strange that athletes lived so far from campus...but I was only 11 or 12 at the time.
February 17th, 2015 at 4:15 AM ^
I wonder if you delivered our paper... we were on Lennox
February 16th, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
February 17th, 2015 at 12:34 AM ^
Keep the the Bo's coming! AC was gifted!
February 17th, 2015 at 12:38 AM ^
UM 3-Time All-Americans; Bennie Oosterbaan (1925-27) being the other.
February 17th, 2015 at 2:48 AM ^
AC finished in the top ten in Heisman votes 3 times.
- 1980 - 10th; George Rogers, winner
- 1981 - 7th; Marcus Allen, winner
- 1982 - 4th; Herschel Walker, winner
Walker was also top ten those same three years finishing 3rd, 2nd and 1st. AC and Walker were the only 2 sophs to make the list those three years. Walker also made it as a freshman and won it as a junior.
AC was the only WR in the top 10 all three years.
February 17th, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^
My favorite Wolverine ever? Yup.
I remember playing back yard football as a lil guy, pretending to be AC and yelling "BREAK AWAY JERSEY" before shedding tackles.
February 17th, 2015 at 4:01 PM ^
was ridiculous. It would just tear off of him like tissue paper.
February 17th, 2015 at 11:41 AM ^
Had no idea Busta Rhymes was that old.
February 17th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^
back in 1981 or so on the corner of Liberty and Maple. Well I should say my MOM did. I stayed in the car--I was 9 years old. She just ran in to get milk or bread or something. Well, this normal sized dude pulls up outside and some people start chittering that maybe that's Anthony Carter. My mom isn't a huge football fan, but she knows the name. However this guy doesn't look like a football player at all, so on the way out she says something to him like "watch out, these people think you're Anthony Carter". All he said was "I am!".
When my mom got back in the car, as we were driving away all she did was ask me what state Anthony Carter was from. Seems that the normal-sized guy going into the party store was driving a car with Florida license plates.
I still haven't forgiven her for not going back so I could get his autograph.
February 17th, 2015 at 12:29 PM ^
I was a kid in this era, so I wouldn't have known the first thing about recruiting for college football then. I just knew it was MICHIGAN and that's where the best players were. It's so cool to peel back the layers of time to see this and look at how some things change and some things stay the same.
AC is why I have my #1 jersey, and I make sure everyone knows it. No it's not Braylon Edwards. It's not David Terrell, etc. It's Anthony Carter and don't you forget it!
February 17th, 2015 at 1:38 PM ^
IIRC, AC's son had a pretty serious health issue a couple of years ago. Does anyone know what happened with all that?
February 17th, 2015 at 3:08 PM ^
It isn't all true
February 17th, 2015 at 7:11 PM ^
February 17th, 2015 at 7:47 PM ^