Michigan State 2022 Target, Chase "Simba" Carter on The Rise
“There’s new energy, and everybody’s gotta step up; because when the coach has more energy than some players, that’s a good thing,” Chase Carter, Michigan State 2022 target said.
That new energy might be coming from Mel Tucker’s relentless, and process driven mindset that he has been tweeting about.
“I think it’s going to make them win overall.”
The mentality; The Spartan Dawg mentality, and work ethic.
“It’s funny because Terry [Lockett Jr.], my teammate, who goes to Michigan State now, he used to yell it to me all the time, ‘Spartan Dawg, Spartan tough. Spartan Dawgs, that’s just the mentality.’ You’ve gotta come out and want it more than anybody else.”
Tucker’s using his high energy to push his players.
“It seems that the culture that Tuckers is bringing is shocking a lot of people, and that they’re going to win a lot of games this year.”
Like Tucker, Carter has his own energy and work ethic he carries with him.
Growing up being a two-sport athlete, Carter has a decision to make.
“There’s definitely a possibility to play both, especially if the school is going to give me a chance to play both. I feel like when it comes time to make my decision, it will be which school believes in me the most, so I can get the furthest.”
The 3-star defensive end plays both football and basketball competitively and has offers to play one or the other in college.
“I told my dad we were going to sit down at the end of the year and decide on what I want to do.”
Carter always wanted to be like his dad and sees his dad as the biggest influence in his life.
“I probably look up to him the most. The crazy thing about my dad is he actually wanted me to play football first. When I was younger, I didn’t play basketball. He put me in football because when he was younger, his mom pulled him out of football, so he wanted me to play.”
Carter’s dad, Randy Carter, played basketball at the University of Minnesota back in 1990.
“My dad has always been supporting and he always says to me, ‘I got to live out my dream in Minnesota.’ He genuinely wants to see the best for me.”
In pursuing his dreams to play in the NFL and/or the NBA, Carter’s trainer gave him a nickname that stuck with him.
“He’s been calling me Simba. He said, ‘you’ve got that talent in you to be the best and be the top dog, but you gotta wake up and go get it.’”
It’s one thing to be born with great talent, and another to use it to its full potential.
“A lot of people around me think that I have the chance to be really good, and great. Like in the movie [The Lion King], you gotta go take it, it’s not going to be given to you. It stuck with me a lot. I also watched the live action film around the time he gave me the name.”
In taking his athletic career(s) to the next level, Carter wants to use his platform to voice as much as he can.
“Even if I’m on the field and off the field wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt; or having those types of conversations. It’s just growing and spreading love. When I’m talking to people, I don’t see the race.”
Just like Simba in The Lion King, this Simba is also on the rise; raising his athletic skill and raising awareness.
“I don’t want people to just know me as the basketball player or the football player. I want to be known as a smart individual; a smart African American male.”
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