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For New Lion Alex Carter, Previous Connections To Team Include Mayhew, Mathis, Sanders

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ALLEN PARK - When the Detroit Lions selected him with the 80th overall pick of the draft, cornerback Alex Carter had only been to Detroit once, on his pre-draft visit, but he already had some longstanding familiarity with several members of the organization.

Carter's father Tom, a former first-round pick who played nine seasons in the NFL, has known Lions general manager Martin Mayhew for 20 years. Also, the same pastor who baptized Carter last year told Carter he had also baptized Mayhew when the Mayhew was playing for the Washington Redskins.

Carter has also met veteran Lions cornerback Rashean Mathis. About 10 years ago, Carter played golf with his dad and Mathis and Terry Cousins. Both Mathis and Cousins played for the Jacksonville Jaguars at the time.

Most incredibly, Carter has already spent some time with legendary Lions running back Barry Sanders, whose son was Carter's roommate this last year at Stanford.

"[Barry] would come by the room every now and then and I would get a chance to talk to him because he was one of my idols growing up as a child," Carter said.

"The first time I met him was at the beginning of last year, but Barry is a very quiet guy, he has that quiet confidence, so when he came in the room, I was shocked at first, but I tried to keep my cool," Carter continued, sounding almost giddy. "I was like, 'Oh, wow, this is Barry Sanders, right here in the flesh.' It was awesome meeting him."

Another NFL star Carter already knows is one of the biggest names in the game - Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, one the best in the league and a fellow Stanford grad who was drafted in the fifth round in 2011.

"We talked before because he was, he had just left before I got to Stanford, but we still keep in contact," Carter said. "He texted me a while ago, before the combine, just wishing me good luck, but it's definitely going to be awesome being in the league with the man."

Sherman gave Carter some advice before the combine.

"Just stay confident, don't let anyone knock me off my game, go in there knowing that I'm the best and just compete," Carter recalled.

Watching Sherman's success in the NFL, Carter cannot help but be inspired.

"I'm going to take that exact same chip on my shoulder, that exact same mentality," Carter said. "I'm going to work to be the best because I know that I can be."

Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said the plan is to put Carter at outside corner at first, but Carter said he has made sure to tell the coaches he is willing to play wherever the team can use him. He has only played safety some in high school, but he eventually wants to do more of it.

"Most of my coaches kind of saw me as a natural corner," Carter said. "Me personally, I still envision myself playing safety one day, if not now then later in my career, but I definitely want to do both.

"I expressed to the coaches, I'm going to come in and compete, however I can get playing time, I'm just going to come in, compete, be the best that I can," Carter added. "I'll play corner, I'll play safety, special teams, whatever you want me to do, I'm going to come in and I'm going to give it my all."

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