Name: Michael Carter 

School: University of North Carolina 

Year: Senior 

Position: Running Back 

Measurements:  5’8 202 

STATS:

General Info:

Carter attended Navarre High School in Navarre, Florida. Scored 45 touchdowns as a senior in high school. He only played in three games as a junior due to a knee injury. He chose UNC over offers from Florida, Tennessee, and West Virginia.  Played in 11 games as a true freshman at UNC. He also returned two kicks. He put up 559 yards rushing as a freshman even though he was behind two other running backs. In 2019 he returned 19 kicks for 466 yards with an average of 24.5 and in 2020 he returned 8 for 156 with an average of 19.5 

Positional Skills:

Positives:  

He is FAST, quick, and explosive! You rarely get all three in on package. If he gets a seem he is gone! His feet are so quick, he makes cuts on top of cuts to get himself space to avoid tacklers. Carter has a lot of experience in the passing game and not just out of the backfield. He has lined up out wide as well. He has even ran some receiver routes; fades, posts, etc…Carter is fearless catching the ball over the middle. He will make sure he catches and a take a big pop from a defender and get up as if nothing happened. He catches the ball like a receiver, with his hands out to keep the ball away from the defender and he doesn’t body catch. If a defender catches him in the backfield he has to make sure he takes him down, otherwise he will juke, stutter step, or put some time of move and the guy will end up on the ground. Carter knows how to be patient and set up his blocks in front of him. He is also hard to see behind the line at times because he is only 5’8 he is able to hide behind his blockers. Carter is a very good cut back runner. Because of his compact frame he is able to kind of squirt forward when being tackled. The UNC product has shown flashes of being a decent pass blocker. He shows good contact balance on film, as long as he doesn’t take a straight on shot. On film he shows great vision in reading the blocks in front of him and hitting his gap or finding the cut back if it is not there. 

Negatives: 

One of Carters strengths is also one of his weaknesses. His ability to start, stop, juke, spin, etc… He can do that stuff too much instead of realizing there isn’t much there and just getting what he can. In other words, he dances too much in the backfield sometimes. He does have a tendency to bounce a lot of his runs outside. Due to his size he lacks power. If a defender can get a hit on him in the backfield, he usually goes down. He has never been a bell cow back. Carter has always shared the carries with other backs. His body might not be able to handle that load. Needs work as a pass blocker, he needs to work on his vision and recognition in that role. He rarely tries to stiff arm a defender. Carter still needs more work as a route runner. 

Fit with the Packers:

Carter would be a great fit with the Packers. Coach LaFleur would have fun coming up with ways to get the ball in his hands and watch him do his magic. He can be used all over. He can be used in the back field, split out, in motion, etc…They could even use him as a kick returner. He would be like Tyler Ervin but 10 times better. He has a similar skill set to Aaron Jones. He is a little smaller so they would have to watch his usage but, Dillon is a high usage back anyway so he would really compliment him well. There are a few things for him to work on, pass blocking, route running, using a stiff arm a little more, not dancing in the back field, etc… if he improves those and gets a little stronger he can be an amazing weapon for this offense. His size does limit his upside a bit, he will never be a #1 back that gets 20+ touches a game; but that’s ok. The Packers wouldn’t need him to be that. Let Dillon get 20ish carries a game and let Carter get 10-15 touches a game on offense and maybe some kick returns and your offense is now ‘all gas, no brakes’