His rise to success has matched his physical stature, and now that he is ready to begin his final season at Hillsborough High School, he is preparing to cement his name as one of the best players to ever come from one of Tampa’s most-historic programs. He’s 6-foot-4, 253-pound Defensive End, Zachary Carter.
Carter has made his presence known since he stepped onto the field for the Terriers, posting a total of 149 tackles and 8.5 sacks his freshman and sophomore years combined. His first two seasons have been a model of consistency in terms of production, but as the case with many athletes of his talent, playing football on Friday Nights is the easy part.
He was recently named MVP of the DE position group at Ignite and registered the second-highest seated med ball toss showcasing his brute strength at 25-feet, 8-inches. Carter’s offers number about as high as total tackles and since Christmas has received two more Power 5 offers from USC and Tennessee. As of right now, it looks like Florida, Clemson, Kentucky and Miami are all in the mix for this defensive menace, but NSD ’17 is a looooong ways away and Carter’s focused on one thing–and one thing only at this point: getting better on and off the field.
Charge-it-to-the-game as being human if you want to rest on the laurels that Carter has accomplished through his first two seasons at Hillsborough, but if his actions are any indication–he’s not stopping at just being happy with numbers and the offers.
“First of all, Zach has become one of our hardest workers in the weight room,” said Carter’s legendary Head Coach, Earl Garcia. “He realizes how important that aspect of his game is. He also has embraced the leadership role of being a senior at Hillsborough. He has become a more physical player through his three years here and much more tougher mentally. Lastly, he has become more serious in his approach to academics (3.0+) and football.”
Carter’s defensive contributions have been well-documented, but something that most of the folks nationally–and locally–don’t realize is his ability to adapt to the offensive side of the ball and play along the offensive line and even catching passes as a tight end. That sort of sacrifice is something that leaders do for their team’ success. Hillsborough as always been a program that plays its players both ways–which is something that can wear down a prospect towards the end of a season. It’s also a mental thing that shows the level of intrinsic investment that a player has for his team and the program.
“We started the 2015 season with Zach as a TE but due to the usual shortage of linemen here I asked him to move into the O line. He did it without hesitation. We have had a shortage of quality linemen all of my years at HHS,” said Garcia.
What’s even more impressive on Carter’s behalf, is what his legacy could possibly end up following his playing days coming to a conclusion for The Big Red. The Terriers have had some seriously talented dogs come from that kennel over in Seminole Heights–some seriously talented Terriers that have been blessed to play under those lights at Chelo Huerta Field–and Carter’s got the chance to have his name on top of all of them. Don’t ask us for our opinion, ask Coach Garcia.
“If Zach improves as much between his junior and senior years as he did between his sophomore and junior seasons, he will rank up there with Andrew Williams (University of Miami, San Francisco 49ers) and Jordan Sherit (University of Florida) which were two of our best ever.”