Will always have love for Jahad Carter. Met him at the spring game last year, he was so kind and enthusiastic with my kids, my son asked him for his autograph and he was like "OK, what you got for me to sign? You don't have a poster or anything like the other kids..." You could see my son's spirit kind of sink as he realized he didn't really think things out. Jahad was like "It's cool little man, I'll sign your jersey." My son lit up like a light bulb and was like "OK, yeah!"
That was the only signature he asked for the rest of the night and when we got home he immediately asked me to help him hang it on the wall in his room. I've been bringing him to games since he could walk and he's got all kinds of SU memorabilia. I've even given him an old poster that I found with a ton of autographs with some of the greats that I posted on here a while back. If you ask him what his favorite SU thing is he will point to that jersey hanging on his wall.
When the news broke that Carter had announced that he was transferring to Ohio State, my son found out right away and asked me if I had heard. I could tell he was really upset and really didn't like the idea of Jahad playing for a different team. He couldn't make sense of it and I tried to explain the realities of being a young man and NIL and all the rest. I tried explaining that it didn't necessarily mean Jahad didn't like SU or didn't like playing at Syracuse, but he had to do what he thought was best for him and he owed it to himself to try and give himself the best opportunity to succeed in life. We can't fault him for that, only wish him well on his journey. He looked at me and I could just see he didn't understand. I said to him "look buddy, just because Jahad is going to play for Ohio State doesn't mean that we have to stop being Jahad Carter fans. I mean, let's say Jahad stayed at SU and then went to the NFL, it's not like we wouldn't see him on TV and still root for him because he's one of our favorite players, right?" He perked up and was like "So, we're going to try to watch Ohio State games now, so we can watch Jahad?" And I said "And cheer for him, yeah".
My son's attachment aside, what I always saw with Jahad that I generally love and admire in a football player is that he went all in. At the highest levels of football the athleticism on the field is so extreme that there is a real and tangible price that players pay in order to compete playing the game. There is a kind of calculation that you can watch play out in real time when you watch the game, and it's the players calculating the price that they are willing to pay to make a given play. A really violent collision can often change this calculus for a player and usually lowers the price they are willing to pay, as you can pay so high a price that it compromises your ability to play. Then there are players who are pure competitors. They are willing to pay any price to win. That's what I saw when I watched Jahad play. He didn't care what it took, he was going to beat you, he was going to impose his will on you and leave no doubt as to who the better player was. That's a football player and I'll always be fan.
Best of luck to you JC! Always represent.
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