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The Fourth of July brought the second member of the Virginia Cavaliers’ 2020 football recruiting class into the fold: Maryland’s Jahmeer Carter.
Only up from here! pic.twitter.com/iSIiiQonev
— Jahmeer Carter (@iamjahmeer) July 5, 2018
Carter is a 6-foot-3, 290-pound rising junior at Archbishop Spalding in Severn. Rivals has him evaluated as an offensive guard but nonetheless gave him a three-star rating. 247 Sports has yet to rate or rank Carter. He joins defensive back Antonio Webb, Jr. in the Hoos’ 2020 class.
As of now, Carter had four offers beyond Virginia: Boston College, Temple, and Howard. Expect that number to rise as Carter continues the camp circuit this summer and next; Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, and Penn State are all showing early interest.
Wow. First off, that is an enormous human for someone who’s barely old enough to drive. But Carter shows much more than just bulk. Both his defensive and offensive tape show an agile, athletic big man. He’s also incredibly versatile: the defensive scheme for Spalding requires him to play both 0-technique—lined up head-on with the center, responsible for the gap on either side—and the more penetrating style of a 1-tech. And he plays both of them very well. Look at how Carter anchors against double teams and throws blockers off of him. Adding that to his explosive get-off from the snap, and you’ve got a perfect fit for Mendenhall’s oft-changing odd-man fronts.
One thing that Carter does really well, especially for a player who is still so young, is how he fights for hand placement. Look at this clip from The Opening regional in New Jersey from April:
@TheOpening pic.twitter.com/m5HqSqeJfr
— Jahmeer Carter (@iamjahmeer) April 10, 2018
Based on the context of the guy he’s facing—older, top recruited OL in New Jersey—I’m pretty sure that’s a one-on-one with Caedan Wallace, a Penn State commit and a national top-100 prospect in 2019.
The highest rated player in UVA’s 2019 class is defensive tackle Jowon Briggs. There’s a good chance that Carter could lead the way and make the highest rated player for 2020 another defensive lineman.