Carroll Will Be Back In South Bend
Scouted heavily due to his rare size and strength, the 2019 Minnesota offensive tackle native has racked up 28 scholarship offers, from schools like Minnesota, Iowa, USC, UCLA, and of course Notre Dame among many others.
Despite the many offers that Carroll received, the one offer he was waiting for came from the Fighting Irish. The wait ended the day after his birthday earlier this year, when Notre Dame came and visited Edina High School and extended the offer on May 22nd.
This lifted the weight off of Carroll’s shoulders and excited everyone around him, especially his dad.
“My dad was excited along with myself and my entire family, you know Notre Dame has always been an offer athletically, academically, spiritually, everything that I have been striving for ever since that first offer rolled in,” he said. “I haven’t stopped working hard in the weight room or anything like that, but once I got it, it was very relieving that Notre Dame wants me as a player.”
With the love for Notre Dame Football going back generations in the Carroll family and South Bend fulfilling everything that is important to the four-star recruit, Notre Dame’s offer seems to be high on the Minnesota native’s list of schools.
“Even before we thought about going to college, my dad has loved Notre Dame,” he said. “He grew up watching Notre Dame because he told me growing up the few schools that were on were Notre Dame and a few others. He and his dad would always watch Notre Dame. We are a big Irish family, so that’s important to him, also having a school that’s encouraging a faith life, I have a strong faith life myself. Notre Dame is amazing and have a phenomenal tradition and they are back on the rise and they’re ready to win the next national title. It is very appealing to me.”
With the season fast approaching, the Edina, Minn., native is ready for action to prove to the schools why they took the chance and gave him an offer.
“I feel the offers will motivate me, just making sure that you take no plays off because if you take one play off that guy could come around the corner and possibly risk injury for myself, but the biggest thing is to play every play like it is your last and make sure that your job is done,” Carroll said.
Two-a-days begin on Monday for the Edina High School football team and due to some offseason changes, it will be the first time the team has seen contact in months and Carroll cannot be any more excited.
“Oh yeah, I’m pumped,” he said. “Starting the season, I wasn’t able to hit very much because they did very low contact this summer with the practices. We got a new head coach so it was very different. We were adapting, so it was very little contact, but now we are strapping on the full pads so I get to hit some people, so that is always fun.”
Even with dozens of offers, Carroll isn’t relaxing. He continued to work in order to be a better player and to help him accomplish the goals he has set for himself this season.
“Last year, I was decently quick off the ball and I kept my flat back during the run game so I feel pretty strong about that, but this year I have been really working on my feet and my pass game.” said Carroll. “Last year, I was all-conference and this year I want to be all-state and just be the best player I can be”
The Edina High standout doesn’t only have individual goals, but some attainable goals for his team going into this season.
“We have a lot of talent this year, the whole offensive line is returning, the whole secondary of the defense is returning, so the ultimate goal is to win a state title, but we’re just trying to get as far as we can,” he said. “Our biggest rival is Eden Prairie, so probably beating Prairie is our motto now.”
Despite his focus on his upcoming high school season, Carroll has kept in contact with Notre Dame closely, and has created a good bond with Irish offensive line coach Harry Hiestand.
“I stay in touch with Coach Hiestand probably about once a month,” said Carroll. “He will reach out through my head coach and have my head coach text me or call and say, ‘Can you give Coach Hiestand a call?’ He is a phenomenal guy and an even better coach and I love talking to him.”
Due to the close contact between Carroll and Hiestand, the 2019 four-star will be in South Bend on Oct. 21st to revisit the university and attend the Notre Dame-USC game. He’s also planning trips to USC and UCLA early next month as well as Ohio State. He also expects to make multiple stops at other Midwest schools this fall.