Deion Sanders is wasting no time setting the ceiling for Boo Carter.
After Carter’s exit from Tennessee and arrival at Colorado, Sanders didn’t just praise the defensive back’s upside - he put a first-round label on it. Speaking with Phillip Dukes, Sanders said Carter has the kind of talent that can take him into the top level of the draft, and he made it clear he wants to keep him in Boulder.
“Let me tell you something, man,” Sanders said. “That kid right there is going to be a first-rounder either this year or next year.
Whichever one he chooses. I want to keep him, he knows that.
I love him a lot. I love him for who he is and who he is trying to become.
That’s what I love about him. He’s trying now.”
Sanders also described Carter as one of the best athletes on the roster and pointed to the way his game can flip field position. At Tennessee, Carter’s punt-return ability was obvious every time the ball got in his hands. He made defenders miss, sparked big field-position swings and was initially expected to be used as a two-way piece before his situation with the Volunteers changed.
For Sanders, though, the physical gifts are only part of the story. What he likes most is how Carter has approached the transition to Colorado. Sanders said Carter has been spending time in film study with him and working to understand the game at a deeper level, instead of leaning only on raw ability.
“Boo’s got it, man,” Sanders said. “Boo is probably my best athlete on the team.
Boo has playmaking ability. If you add that with studying and preparation, he’s going to be hard to deal with.
He has to understand what that means. The best thing ever, he came to me and said, ‘Coach, I want you to watch film with me.’
So, we sat in the office right over there, and we watched the whole practice and I said, ‘You see this? You see that?
Look at the line right there. Tell me what you’re going to get.’
“I wanted to teach him to learn the game before the play started. I don’t want you to just play when the play starts.
Anybody can do that. I want you to play the game before it even started.
So you’re looking at the offense, you’re looking at the formation, you’re looking at the splits, you’re looking at down and distance and you’re understanding all of that before the game even starts. That will simplify the game for you.
“Once he really internalizes and gets that, because he’s on his way, because that’s how he’s thinking now. It ain’t just lining up, let’s go man-to-man, let’s lock up.
I told him also, there’s several ways to skin a cat. You don’t have to always hard jam.
They change their game, you can change your game.”
Carter’s path to Colorado came after a difficult finish at Tennessee. The relationship had already been strained by absences from team activities during the summer, and after the Volunteers beat New Mexico State, Josh Heupel said Carter did not meet the standard of the program and was no longer with the team. Carter said he was confused by that turn and told the staff he was injured, while Heupel said trainers had provided information that made it unnecessary to list Carter on availability reports.
Now Carter is in Boulder, and Sanders is making the expectation plain: if the development keeps going the way he sees it, the ceiling is as high as it gets.
Colorado opens the season against Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Thursday, September 3, while Tennessee is set to face the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, September 12.
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