Quincy Carter
Appearances
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, it was a dream come true too, man. And shout out to Coach Donnie, you know, who believed in me. Shout out to him, you know, saying the words to get me down there, but then actually delivering as far as giving me a chance to compete, you know, against five other quarterbacks.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And, you know, being an African, being the only African-American in that room in Georgia, really not having a history of having a black quarterback there since, well, I think James Jackson. James Jackson. Yeah. So the opportunity, you know, to be a quarterback at the University of Georgia was a dream come true.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And, and you just, you said it best, man, for us to be throwing, you know, first and second down sometimes instead of running the ball on first and second down was unheard of. But, you know, Eric Zaire, he set the precedent for that. And he's, you know, he showed that it could be done. And then I had to go in and prove that an African American can do the same thing as Eric Zaire.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And so, man, I put my head down. You know, I had some great teammates. Shout out to Jonas Jennings, too, for giving me the confidence, you know, to give, you know, Georgia a shot, you know, coming back from baseball. But, man, we put our head down. It didn't hurt having Champ Bailey as your leading receiver that year, too. Yeah. And everything he could bring to the table.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And that just kind of set the bar, you know, for Larry Brown running routes up underneath. Wiggins, another one of our tight ends. Yeah. Man, Michael Gray had a big year that year, too. He had some big catches. And shout out to Tony Small. He didn't get a lot of credit for being a really, really good receiver, standing at 6'2", about 200 pounds, too.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
So I had some pretty good, you know, some pretty, not pretty good, but I had some great guys around me, too. And then let me give a shout out to Steve Herndon and Miles Lucky before they knocked me out on my offensive line, man. They were my boys.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Man, Nick, I'm telling you, it is a moment. It is a moment to have those three teams you've played for, but then for it to end up in Dallas after I'm done playing college football. was a dream come true, man.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And Nick, you know, everything, you know, that I, you know, had been through and God had placed me at, you know, having some adversity in baseball with the Cubs, going to Georgia, being one of the only, you know, African-American to ever start there and then coming to Dallas and being one of the only African-American to start there.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Not only that, like you just said, the first game of the season, opening day, and then seeing your hero on the field, Doug Williams, It was the first to ever win a, you know, Super Bowl as an African-American. And to see him, you know, pregame and shake his hands, my first time ever meeting him, it was a dream. But one thing I always knew, Mick, is that I had to work my butt off to keep it.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And I had my eyes on the prize of doing that. And that was year in and year out. And nothing was going to stop me. but myself. And I end up, you know, stopping myself through some things that we'll probably get into. But, you know, as far as my work ethic, as far as who I was as a person, who I was trying to be, who I was becoming, who I was representing, you know, was evident.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
What's up, man? Good Lord, man. You talking about making somebody feel special, man. I appreciate that introduction, man.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And I was going to do anything to accomplish everything I wanted to.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Mick, it was perfect for me, you know, because, you know, not to toot my own horn, but I was like... the perfect quarterback for him because I wanted someone not growing up with a, you know, a father in my life. I wanted that father, you know, in my life, you know, and I finally got that. And it was the perfect recipe for me, you know, to have somebody that,
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, it's just so enamored with every detail possible, you know, for just one play to work. And now we're not, we're just talking about, I'm just talking mentioning plays. But now when we get to, you know, actually how you take care of your body, how many lifts a week, the hot and cold tub, you know, then you skip over to the fem room.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, what is defense is doing to you on first and second down? What are they doing to you on third, you know, in medium? What are they doing to you on third and long? Now, after about six or seven games, you know, now what are we doing, you know, that's tipping off defenses? And so now, you know, me and him and the coaches, you know, Sean Payton, now we're going into a south scouting mode.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Hey, man. I'm honored to be spending some time with you, too, man. Thanks for the introduction, though. Good Lord, man.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, so what, you know, formations are we running in? What formations are we motioning? And when we're motioning, are we throwing, are we passing? And so just Every detail was so important to him. And it was just like a dream come true to me to have somebody that just loved the game as much as he did and just was able to just give me that wisdom and knowledge, man, of how to approach it.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And I just ate every bit of it up, man. I did.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Absolutely.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
It didn't. And actually, before I even got in the office, you know, I thought I had some, what you call lucky training camp visitors. And I'll keep it PG. But yeah, Mick, I started a habit and actually started in baseball where I didn't depend on God like I should have. And I started smoking weed, Mick. And it's a habit that I've formed.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I tried to keep it a secret as much as possible, as much as what we We were discussing as far as my work ethic and the things and the person I was trying to be. Mick, I was doing things that eventually caught up to me. I failed my first test in 2002, going into the season, actually. Yeah, 2002. Bill Parcells knew I was in the program, too. and had faith in me.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Shout out to, you know, him having faith in me throughout this process. But anyway, a week before training camp, I failed another test, you know, Mick, and I was at the four-game fine phase. You know, we had a couple words in training camp about my reps, you know, me and Jerry and Bill.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
They were concerned that, you know, I'd possibly be getting a third, you know, failed test, and then that would be a suspension and embarrassing the whole franchise. And they made a decision to cut me and move on from me because they couldn't trust me. And I thoroughly understand that to this day. That's why I'm out here. And I don't like to use the word preaching because I'm not a pastor, but
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I am trying to preach to these young men, you know, that's in a world right now that they're being told that marijuana is legal. And it may be in certain states, but it can't be legal to you if you're trying to accomplish all your goals. What, you know...
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
billionaires out here sitting around trying to get a, you know, PhD in marijuana, which I, you know, kind of slightly say I was at some point because I wasn't dependent on the man up above. But who's doing that out here and being a billionaire and being successful, man? So I'm trying to, you know, get this word out here to these young men.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, we can think we're being slick, but what's done in the dark eventually comes to light and it bit me in my butt.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, absolutely. At the time, Nick. Now, my addiction would go on, and I'd get a PhD in cocaine, which I'm not proud of. I'm smiling at now, but I'm not proud of it, but I'm proud to be able to tell somebody my journey, man. That's what feels good. But yeah, but at the time, that's what it was, man. Now, a lot of other things were being said, but yes, at the time it was.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, yeah, Mick, I had played arena football about two seasons, Mick. And I was up in Kansas City and really close to another one of my friends. Good coaches, Herm Edwards, who was keeping an eye on me and ended up playing like the last, you know, what, four or five games of that season and played, you know, OK enough, you know, garnered some interest from teams.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And the same guy who cut me still believed in me and brought me down to training camp for the Miami Dolphins during the start of that training camp season of 2009. Yeah, 2009. And I had a great workout, Mick, but couldn't stop doing what had got me cut from the Cowboys.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And so he told me, well, Bill Parcells, man, told me to go back to the room and, hey, we're going to sign you, work out the deal with your agent. And I knew Mick going back, you know, it was just a feeling that I had, you know, get done taking the physicals and all that or what have you.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
There was a chance that, you know, the things that I hadn't quit just yet, smoking and I, you know, could possibly get caught. And that's what happened, Mick, you know, my agent called me about a couple of hours later. and told me, you know, first of all, Eugene Parker, rest in heaven. And he was just asking me, you know, a question. Why you didn't tell me? Why you didn't tell me?
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And I was just like, what, trying to play it off? And he was like, you should have just told me, you know, that you were still having some issues. And we could have just, you know, kind of waited on you going down and working out. But he said they can't even test, you know, your urine. And that's because I tried to mask it, man. And it cost me my job, man. And Bill...
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, I ain't got too grown yet. But Coach Parcells, man, he was really disappointed, man, because I had done a lot of work in rehabilitation, working down there in Florida with my mentor and sponsor to this day, Hollywood Henderson, who's still in my corner. But I had a golden chance, man, of the man who cut me four years later, Nick. And brought me back, you know, to to get a chance.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
But that lesson that I had to learn just got a little bit more harder for me because I wasn't believing in the man yet.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, it was two phases of it, Mick. It was the morning that I reached out to Hollywood, July 22nd, 2019. It was that morning, and it was getting on my knees and praying. And the next, you know, moment, Mick was picking up the phone and telling Hollywood, hey man, come get me before sunset. You know, and put me somewhere, man, where I could, you know, work on this thing.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And so that was the spirit of God. That was, you know, Marsha Stone from BRC in Austin coming down and picking me up. And I was in rehab in like five or six hours. But that surreal moment, Mick, was me sitting at a table. You know, I used to get up 435 in the morning, you know, writing all my notes. We're doing, you know, step work and everything. I'll never forget sitting on that porch.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And just looking to the skies, Mick, and just asking God, man, if you're here for me, please show me. And Mick, little bit by little bit, you know, whether it's the phone conversations with my mom I started to have in rehab, whether it's, you know, that bird that was chirping in your ear when you're in a critical spot in your writing and you're talking to God and he's like, Is that God?
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And then just seeing my confidence as I'm going through the steps and building, you know, I never disowned God. You know, I got mad at God, Nick, and I got mad because, you know, so much bad was happening to me, you know? But, Nick, what I wasn't accounting for is that I was the one in the way. You know, I was the one that failed, you know, the test for the Cowboys, a dream come true job.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I was the one who was in position to get myself back in the NFL. And I didn't lean on God a little bit more and get that job with the Miami Dolphins, you know? And so, you know, and then being walking home, being, you know, on the bottom of the barrel, but living in an extended state up and coming Georgia.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And somebody stopping me on the side of the road, you know, and now I have a high school, you know, baseball job, a basketball job, a football job, and then coaching, you know, at a prep school too. So God was still, you know, tugging me. Hey, I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. And I was so upset with God. So I strayed away from him.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
So accepting those truths, you know, once I got to rehab and just getting closer to him, you know, I thought I knew God as a kid. I thought I knew him, you know, in my early, my early 20s, doing some FCA things and seeing the miracles of God.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
But knowing them on that personal level and filling the spirit and not not wanting to not be filling the spirit at any point in your life, man, that's the special, you know, part of our relationship. You know, I love that, brother.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, it's a point that you get, you know, when you're in your addiction that you just got to say to yourself, how can I continue to live like this? And if you're there, and most of us, it takes, you know, sometimes it takes longer than others to get there. But it's only two ways that this addiction, man, that you have option was, you know, to get it under control.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And that's one, you have to have someone outside of yourself, you know, to restore you to sanity. And the second one, you know, is, you know, you've got to dig deep in those steps and go through a great, you know, a great 12-step program, whether it's a 12-step program or you just go into a meeting and getting a sponsor. But one of those two things has to happen because...
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Because if it came, I mean, if it could come from us, you know, we had the power with inside of us, we wouldn't have this addiction. We wouldn't be taking ourselves to hell. Who wants to do that? But it's one of two things, man. You've got to get with God. And some people, you know, we don't understand how we can get with a person where bad things have happened.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, you have to have some kind of higher power outside yourself, no matter what. For me, it's God, you know. And you know what I'm talking about when I say that. And I mean that.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
But but yeah, and you've got to have those 12 steps, you know, up under your belt and really go through a thorough 12 step.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Man, it's because, you know, Mick, God gave me grace, man. Man, I'm getting emotional, dude. He gave me a second chance, man. And I just thank him so much, Mick. You know, we browse over the addiction, but I know what it was like being in that extended stay, getting picked up, you know, making that call to Hollywood, man. And he's given me life. He's given it back to me.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I never thought I would actually be telling my whole life story of missed opportunities and having joy about it to be able to tell somebody else and help them. And then coming from where I came from, you know, coming out of Mountain Park, you know, on Custer Avenue and getting there with the Cubs. And God gave me an opportunity with Georgia and Dallas, even the Jets.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, you know, man, born in Chicago. For a lot of people that don't know, I was actually born in Bloomington and went to Chicago right out of the hospital. And then me and my mom moved down here to Atlanta, Decatur area, about, you know, when I was about three or four years old. But yeah, Mick, man, life was, to me, it was humbling, you know, coming down here from Chicago.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And then to see it come full circle, Mick, uh, you have your struggles and then you can get out here and help people regardless of what you've been through and knowing you accomplished some things that a lot of people want to accomplish, you know, uh, but how do you get them there? You know, um, what can you tell them? How can you help them?
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And then my biggest gift is I can point them to God and I can show them, you know, no matter what mistakes I've made, me being upset with God, you know, uh, at a point Joe did too. And, um, they took everything from Joe, uh, but I never disowned them. I know how powerful he is. Um, and then to pick me back up on my feet, Nick and, um, That's all I can do to give back to him, man.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, Nick is some days, man, I should have been dead, but I'm here. And so I'm going to do everything I can, you know, to give back to his people because I know what he's done for me, man. You got me. You got me, dude.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Outside of coaching, Mick right now, I've got my foundation that I started here a couple years ago. We're on a mission to advocate for safe, drug-free communities. We do that through
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
speaking engagements camps clinics uh we got a thanksgiving you know feed the hungry deal coming up here in a minute we have a back to school special and we're just going to continue to add to that a golf tournament is down the line here and then also uh we want to you know give it give it to us a little celebrity bowling out i mean annual celebrity bowling deal every year so
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
So I'm doing that and really busy with that. I've got my own quarterback school where I'm mentoring quarterbacks. And then Mick, man, just giving where I can, you know, really. But yeah, you can find me on, well, I'm old school with Mick. I'm probably getting my Facebook out first. But it's Quincy LaVar Carter on Facebook. And then also you can reach out for my foundation.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
It's what the Quincy Carter Foundation. Sorry about that. I was about to give you my email. That's the Quincy Carter Foundation. And then for camps and training kids, it's QuincyCarter17.com. It's both of my websites. It's the QuincyCarterFoundation.com, the QuincyCarter17.com. And then also... The quickest way to get to me, because I'm still old school, is that Quincy LaVar Carter on Facebook.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
As a kid, I thought I had everything I wanted. You know what I mean? We didn't grow up in the nicest of neighborhoods. My mom don't like to tell me exactly exactly. My neighborhood, so honor mom on that. But it was humbling. Grew up at the Recreation Park. Nick, I was a kid that got dropped off at Gresham Park, did all my homework there. And that's where my competitive nature started, you know?
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, man, I want to thank you too, Nick, and thank you for being a friend also, man. You can only really have these conversations with the people you really feel. And man, your spirit is special, man. So you continue being great. And yeah, I'm going to just be quiet now.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And that's where sports started for me. It was table tennis and bumper pool. That moved to basketball, baseball, and football. And I wanted to play all three. You know, also, you know, coming up, you know, closer to high school, I wanted to play at the best high school for football. And we, you know, actually had a good baseball and basketball team.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, the first thing I was buying was a Mercedes. But then Sharon Carter Embry was buying something else.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
But that football team was Southwestern Cal High School. You know, Coach Buck Godfrey had established himself in the late 80s, mid to late 80s. In the 90s, we're starting. And I wanted to keep that tradition going. We had just went to a A state championship in 1990, I think I was in the seventh grade then.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And coming into the eighth grade, well, coming into high school, which was eighth grade for us, you know, because we didn't go to middle school, I wanted to be the QB that got us back there. We took a tough loss to Val Austin. in the championship game in 1990. And I wanted to be the QB besides Eric Johnson to lead us back to premises. So I started on that journey in eighth grade, man.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And we put our head down and went to work as a team.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, you know, it was a big accomplishment. And one, having pride in being, you know, the only Black school, all Black school to win at its highest classification. You know, the Clark Centrals of the world's ruled, the Valdostas, shoot, Camden Counties, you know, Parkview was coming up at that time. And so we're very proud of that.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
You know, what you just mentioned wasn't happening for Black quarterbacks either, you know, as far as going to D1 schools. But having an idol like Charlie Ward right down the street in Thomasville and seeing him go on the Florida State to win a national championship and to win a Heisman was everything to me. You got to think that was my freshman, sophomore, junior season in high school.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And I was watching him. And then Damian Craig started to make some noise at Auburn. And ironically, those were the first two or three schools I started looking at. was Auburn, was Florida State. And then I, you know, ended up settling with Georgia Tech. Not settling, I'm sorry, no disrespect, because they had a really good program at the time. Which, you want to get into that anyway.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah. But yeah, you know, those are the guys I looked up to. Those are the guys that were running, throwing the ball, being in multiple facet formations and really, you know, been able to show every aspect of their game.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, well, it was probably my first morning at practice. And it's rookie ball.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, that was a pretty cool experience. You know, first, it all started with me at Gresham Park and playing, you know, alongside the likes of the Travis Strouds of the world and some other great players, you know, to play it along with. And so that's where my, you know, competitive baseball started at. You know, I ended up getting selected to play for the East Cobb Astros at the age of 13.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And we took the opportunity, you know, at the time. East Cobb, which is, you know, well, really pretty nationally well-known, only had one, you know, team out the whole state for each age group. So we took advantage of that opportunity. So from 13 to 17, you know, I played a lot of travel ball, played about, shoot, 80 to 100 games a summer.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I had a really, really good coach at Southwest DeKalb, too, Coach Pruitt, who helped start, you know, the read-in program before Coach Goodwin later took it along And then the really winning region championships and the whole nine over there in the state championship at Redan.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
But yeah, so with me getting so much experience during the summertime and my game really taking off, you know, a lot of scouts start, you know, buzzing around Southwestern Cab, you know, during the spring of my senior season. And my hometown team, who I say, well, my second hometown team, I can't Respect Atlanta and Decatur. Good Lord. Get me because, boy, my people here really fed my spirit.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
But, yeah, my original hometown team, let's say it like that, the Chicago Cubs drafted me in the second round. And it was a dream come true, Mick. I think I told you this, but I tell everybody, man, that getting that phone call at graduation practice was pretty cool, you know, because I didn't know what time it was going to happen. You know, the baseball draft could go on forever.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
you know, what, I think 30, 45 minutes a pick or something like that, if I'm not mistaken. I think it's changed now. But to get that call of graduation, man, it was pretty cool. Heck yeah.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Georgia was getting ready to be on probation or was already on probation. And I just didn't feel comfortable in possibly going to college and not being able to play in ballgames.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
What is that like? Well, shoot, not to cut you off, sorry about that. But me and my granddad, you know, I went to Chicago right after my short kind of baseball season growing up in Gresham Park. I went to Chicago the rest of the summer. So me and my granddad sat there and watched. Well, first we had to watch the Bozo show because grandma wasn't playing games.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Then it was General, I think General Hospital, One Life to Live, one of them. You know, then we can watch the game. But yeah, man, shoot, we watched, you know, Chicago baseball, man, all summer. And growing up and seeing Andre Dawson, I mean, Sean Dawson, Andre Dawson, I'm sorry. Sean Dawson, let me get my guys right. Mark Grace. Ryan Sandberg. Yeah, Ryan Sandberg.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
And then walking in the locker room, drafted, which is so, you know, surreal. But man, that was, it was surreal, you know, to really get that phone call. And I think my mom called me first on the three-way with him. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That's wild.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, that was a pretty cool experience. You know, first it all started with me at Gresham Park and playing, you know, alongside the likes of the Travis Strouds of the world and some other great players, you know, that I played along with. And so that's where my, you know, competitive baseball started at. In your mind, what was the first thing you were buying?
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Exactly. It was.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Well, the first thing I was buying was a Mercedes. But then Sharon Carter Embry was buying something else. Not that she was taking my money, but I wasn't about to spend all this money on a Mercedes. So I think we settled. What did I get? Eddie Bauer. Yeah, I'll never forget. I got the Eddie Bauer edition. You know, Eddie Bauer started making clothes, I think, also. So I had the jacket.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
What was that, a Ford, I think? Heck. The Explorer. Yeah, the Explorer. There it is. The Explorer. And I got the Eddie Bauer edition. Yeah, heck yeah. But in my mind, like you were, I thought I was getting ready to get a Mercedes, but that wasn't happening. And my mom wanted me to be smart. Smart for her, for disciplining me.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Yeah, well, it was probably my first morning at practice, and it's rookie ball. So rookie ball is, you know, you think you're getting ready to come to the park and have a little batting practice and then play a game. But rookie ball work started at 730, you know, to about 11. And so that's fielding, that's outfield drills, that's base running, shoot, you name it.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I mean, well, fielding situations as far as having men on base, you know, hitting the ball in the gap where you're throwing the ball. Batting practice for an hour, you're hitting live pitching in the cage. And then you go have lunch, probably about 10.30 maybe, 10.30, 11. And then you're out on the field, you know, playing a game at 12 o'clock.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
So it became grown man business right away, you know, that first day. But hey, that's what I dreamed of. And that's what I wanted to do. So I embraced it, man. I embraced it and loved it.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Okay. All right. Now, I got to tell the whole story, too, now. Yep. And that whole story was... You got a bag. Well, no. No. I'm still not going to tell on nobody. But the whole story is, though, Mick, Georgia was getting ready to be on probation or was already on probation. And I just didn't feel comfortable in possibly going to college and not being able to play in bowl games.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
Now I've got to add my real spin to it. And that's that, you know, Georgia Tech was pretty decent at the time. You know, the offense they were running, Ralph Free.
Mick Unplugged
Quincy Carter | The Legacy of Quincy Carter: Football, Faith, and Community Impact
I didn't blend the red and black, but Mick, I owe you this one. There you go. That's my answer. But it was a it was a business decision, too. It was.