Duke football: DeWayne Carter proves he is more than just football

So much more than what we see

At 6”3” and 298 pounds, DeWayne Carter is hard to miss on the football field. The defensive tackle for Duke football has been very visible in the team’s first three games. But there is so much more to Carter than football and it is those things we don’t see that have gotten him named to a very prestigious team.

Carter has been named to the Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. He is one of just eleven FBS players and twenty-two overall in college football to be chosen. The honor recognizes a player’s integrity and service off the field rather than their performance on it.

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Good player, better person

We know what Carter has been up to on the field so far. He has 2½ tackles-for-loss, 1½ sacks, has been a disruptive force all season, and scooped up a fumble Saturday night and returned it for a touchdown. But what has he done off the field to get this kind of recognition?

Since coming to Duke from Pickerington, Ohio, he has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, helped local schoolkids with reading initiative goals, served as a member the student athlete group that is responsible for giving the NCAA feedback about various rules, has been a mentor to freshman student-athletes to help them acclimate to the college lifestyle, served on Duke’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and been involved with the school’s United Black Athletes organization. Oh, one other thing, he also volunteers as a youth baseball coach.

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He excels in the classroom as well. Carter currently owns a 3.48 GPA with a major in psychology and a minor in education. He is scheduled to graduate in May of next year. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to make an NFL roster, but if that doesn’t work out, he plans on a career in education.

The next time you watch the Blue Devils and see that large human wearing number ninety blowing up a play, keep in mind there is so much more to Dewayne Carter than what we see on the field.