Gators long snapper inks with SU: Carrell set to enroll early; eyes freshman playing time

LHSAA names Bonine new boss
December 23, 2014
Player of the Week: Karmine Falgout
December 23, 2014
LHSAA names Bonine new boss
December 23, 2014
Player of the Week: Karmine Falgout
December 23, 2014

For most high school students, the Christmas holiday is a much-needed break – a chance to kick your feet up and relax from the grind of school.

But for South Terrebonne senior long snapper David-Michael Carrell, this holiday season is different. It’s the beginning of the next step in his career – the journey to college football.

Carrell signed his National Letter of Intent to play for Southern University in Baton Rouge on Thursday morning at the Gators’ Bourg campus.


The South Terrebonne senior signed well before National Signing Day so that he can enroll in Baton Rouge in January in an effort to take part in the Jaguars spring practices and possibly find playing time in his freshman season.

“Southern offered me first, and that meant a lot to me, so I decided to honor my commitment to them and sign a scholarship to spend my future there,” Carrell said. “Now, I’m excited to get going. I been to a lot of their games the past year, so I’m familiar with our team and I like our coaching staff.”

As a long snapper, Carrell is responsible for snapping the ball on special teams plays – punts, field goals and extra points.


Carrell said he’s been training to do all of those duties for the majority of his playing career, adding that he doesn’t particularly have a preference on which play he prefers over the other.

“I like extra points, but honesty, I didn’t really have one that I like way more than any of the others,” Carrell said. “It’s all about the same to me – just go on the field and do my job.”

One thing interesting about long snappers is how obscure and cerebral they are within the game. Carrell said the biggest goal of a long-snapper is for no one to know your name, because nine times out of 10, the only time a long snapper’s name ever gets called is when they make a mistake and cost his team points.


He said he works hard to perfect his craft so that no one ever knows who he is.

“If that happens, you know that on the next play, the backup will probably be in the game because you just made a big mistake,” Carrell said. “Definitely the goal of this job is to not be known by too many people, because as you said, when you’re noticed 99 percent of the time, it’s because of something that didn’t go the way that you wanted it to.”

But that hasn’t happened too often for Carrell, who has established himself as one of the best long snappers in the Southeast in the past few seasons.


He said that he chose Southern over interest from a few schools locally who were also interested in his services. As he mentioned, the Jaguars were his first offer – which carried a lot of weight. But through visiting several of the team’s home games and also the Bayou Classic, the deal was closed.

“It’s exciting – the place is always packed, and that’s just the regular home games. Everyone already knows that the Bayou Classic is packed and is crazy, but I’ve been to a lot of their home games this year and those are wild, too,” Carrell said. “Southern is a place that I feel is right for me. For an FCS school, we play in a lot of big games, and that’s an environment that I want to be a part of because of the exposure that I can get for myself.”

“Southern made the first offer and after attending the games and the Bayou Classic, he realized that none of the (Football Championship Subdivision) schools have the kind of energy around the program like Southern does,” David-Michael’s father Travis Carrell said. “Plus, he gets to go in the spring in anticipation of being the starter in the fall.”


But while Carrell will spend the next few weeks moving his life to Baton Rouge to get ready for spring football, he said the prospect of suiting up for anyone other than South Terrebonne is one that feels a bit weird.

Carrell said the past few years at the Bourg-based high school have been magical – some of the best times in his life.

He was the long snapper for the team during their magical 2014 run to the Class 4A State Quarterfinals.


Carrell said the first time he suits up for Southern, he will feel a rush of adrenaline, but he added that he will probably feel different once he realizes that he’s not surrounded by his Gators’ teammates.

“This past year was great – we did a lot of really amazing things,” Carrell said. “It will be really different for me to not be playing with those guys, because I’ve been with a lot of the same people for my whole life – not just in high school. We played TPR together, too.

“But for me, it’s a great new challenge, so I just want to get in early, work hard, bust my tail and show the coaches that I’m worthy of getting a shot in my freshman season. It’s always been my dream to be a college player, so I’m excited to be taking the steps to make that dream a reality.”


South Terrebonne long snapper David-Michael Carrell signed a National Letter of Intent with Southern University on Thursday morning. 

 

COURTESY PHOTO