Antonio Carter Has Helped Solidify Notre Dame's Secondary

Hall of Fame head coach Lou Holtz has a fairly famous quote about Notre Dame. “Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation’s necessary. Those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”

That’s the vibe defensive back Antonio Carter has when he speaks about transferring from Rhode Island to join the Fighting Irish secondary this summer.

"Just walking around it’s different,” Carter said after Monday’s fall camp practice. "Also, it’s life after football. Not everybody gets to make it to the league. Even if you do, you get an average of I think it’s four years, maybe, if that. I was thinking about life after, and I felt like this was the best spot for me.”

Carter was heavily recruited as a graduate transfer after spending four years at Rhode Island as a cornerback. He is working in the Fighting Irish secondary as a safety to help bolster one of the thinnest positions on the roster after spring practice concluded. Irish safeties coach Chris O’Leary has liked what he has seen from he veteran through the training camp’s first two weeks.

"He’s a really smart player,” O’Leary said of Carter. "He’s given us stability. He’s solidified us there from a depth perspective and he’s pressed us with some competition because he can play the game violently. He’s smart, he’s picked up the defense quickly, and where he’s at right now he’ll just continue to get better. It’s going to be a process for him but I’m excited to see what he can do.”

Carter started 21 games in his last two seasons at Rhode Island, finishing with 112 tackles and 17 pass breakups. There has been a bit of a learning curve for him, going from cornerback to safety and up a level in competition from FCS Rhode Island to a top FBS program.

"Getting into a new playbook and then on top of that a different position, because I was at corner,” Carter explained when asked about the adjustment at Notre Dame. "At first it was a little ... not disappointing, but hard on me mentally, because you go from knowing everything at every position to starting all over. I’ve been doing an okay job, I’ve been doing alright. I know the plays, but it’s the little details I don’t know just yet or how exactly he wants this or wants that. I think I’m getting there day by day. Just trying to get better.”

Carter felt the bumps in his transition, but O’Leary has seen good things from the transfer.

"He’s made it look easy because he’s a smart football player,” O’Leary said of Carter. "He’s making calls in the box that I would never expect a corner to understand because he gets it. Some of the middle-open coverages and things like that he still has to take that step because he’s not used to being back there, but that’s nothing that I didn’t expect.”

Carter arrived on campus in June and went through summer workouts with the Irish. He’s picked up a lot in a short amount of time working with his new position coach.

"He’s helped me a lot,” Carter said of O’Leary. "He’s hard on me for sure. He doesn’t let me slack at all. That’s what I need to get to the place I want to be; the future and the player I want to be. I definitely need to listen.”

O’Leary loves the physicality Carter, who is listed at 207 pounds on Notre Dame’s official roster, brings to the position. Carter tested that physicality in the first team scrimmage of camp and knew he belonged right away. O’Leary knew pretty quickly that Carter would fit in as well.

"I think the first day with pads there was a thud in the alley, and you look around and were like 'Oh, that was Tone',” O’Leary recalled. "That’s been great because a focus (for) us was our violence going into this season, and I’ve seen it in, whatever, 10 practices now, it’s night and day. From top to bottom the guys hit.”

Carter’s presence has allowed the Irish defense to add a three-safety deployment they call their “Aztec Package”.

"That is definitely cool,” Carter said of the package. "I get to do different things like blitz, cover, get in the post, play curl/flat, different things like that. That’s perfect for me, because I do see myself as versatile. I do love that package for sure.

"(It is) very versatile position,” Carter continued. "You’re in the box, but you get deep as well. You cover, you blitz. It’s kind of like a rover, I guess you would say. More of an athletic rover.”

Carter’s addition gives the Fighting Irish much more depth at safety. He joins veterans Xavier Watts, DJ Brown and Ramon Henderson, along with younger players like Adon Shuler, Ben Minich and Luke Talich. He has two remaining seasons of eligibility heading into this season.

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