Cal Football: Xavier Carlton is the Resident Poet on the Golden Bears' Defense
Xavier Carlton doesn’t hide his ambitions within his soul. He shares them through written word.
Inspired as a teen-ager by the late rapper Tupac Shakur, Carlton began to write poetry.
At 6-foot-6, 270 pounds, he brings a special quality to the football field. But football is not his only passion.
“Writing poetry is the best thing that any person can do!” he says on his Instagram page.
Carlton grew up in the Central Valley community of Modesto before moving with his family to the Salt Lake City area because of his mother’s job change when he was a high school sophomore.
After two years playing for the University of Utah, he returned to the Bay Area as a transfer in January, and as a junior is in the mix in Cal’s defensive front as a versatile player who can line up anywhere from outside linebacker to defensive end to the 3-technique role that is closer to an interior D-line position.
Cal recruited him two years earlier, and coach Justin Wilcox says X — as he’s known on the team — has been a welcome addition to the defense.
“We’ve known him a long time so we kind of knew what we were getting. I think he felt the same way — he knew us well,” Wilcox says in the video above. “He fits in really good with his teammates — he’s earned their respect, he works hard.”
Carlton’s experience at Cal so far “is actually everything I’ve dreamed for. I love school. I love writing — a write a lot of poetry. I share it with my parents most of the time. I’ll write poetry for my mother.
“Mostly about love friendship, also greatness. No matter when you do, if you’re an athlete or you’re a student, you find ways to be great at what you do.”
Followers of his Instagram page will find his poem, “Greatness at the Doorstep,” which speaks to Carlton’s dreams both on and off the field:
“Striving to be great and dreaming of being the best
Constantly working and putting yourself to the test
Haters be doubting, laughing and trying to ruin your name
Stay humble, eyes on the prize, and keep walking on the Golden plain”
At Juan Diego Catholic High School in Draper, Utah, Carlton took his first important steps in his drive for greatness. He was a four-star recruiting prospect, a first-team all-state as a senior, and was rated the No. 2 player in Utah and the No. 12 strong side defense end in the country.
That’s also when his affinity for poetry was stoked by Tupac, who was shot to death in 1996 at the age of 25 — years before Carlton was born.
“Growing up Tupac was one of my favorite artists. One thing that kind of stood out for me about him was he was a poet. He was a poet of that generation,” Carlton said.
“Just hearing the words that he was spitting out, not just about everything that was going on in the world but what can help you as a person, make you better. Ever since then, I’ve been working on being a good poet.”
His coaches say that work ethic is evident daily at practice.
“What he’s naturally born with is something you can’t coach. Everything between the ears is something you really want as a coach in a player,” Vic So’oto, Cal’s outside linebackers coach, says in the video above. “He’s conscientious, works really hard and wants to be really good.
“I had high expectations for him so I don’t think anything has jumped out more than I expected. He’s meeting expectations and he’s playing his butt off out here.”
Carlton was part of a special Utah team a year ago. The Utes were 10-4, beating Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game reach the Rose Bowl for the first time ever where they lost 48-45 to Ohio State.
But while Carlton was part of the defensive line rotation in 11 games, he did not see action in any of the Utes’ final three outings. So he entered the transfer portal within days of the Rose Bowl.
Carlton had chosen Utah in the first place, in part, because his mother was ill at the time and he wanted to be close to home.
But the lure to return to California was strong, as he talks about in the video above. Central Valley childhood friends included current Cal teammates linebacker Trey Paster, nose guard Ricky Correia, wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter and offensive lineman Everett Johnson, with whom Carlton played Little League.
Carlton’s mother, Lorraine, is now healthy, and she gave Xavier her blessing to make the move.
“Once I put my name in the portal, she was cool with it,” he said. “Go back home and start anew at Cal Berkeley. Your dream was there all along.”
Cover photo of Xavier Carlton by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
