Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Spotlight: Will Carter
10/19/2016 1:20:00 PM | Football
By Doug Hendry, Bucknell Athletic Communications Student Assistant
When thinking about the best wide receivers in Bucknell football's program history, some familiar names may come to mind: Tom Mitchell, Lester Erb, David Kucera. A current Bison senior can add his name to the list as well. Will Carter, a senior from Moreland Hills, Ohio, has put together four excellent collegiate seasons, breaking multiple records and putting him in the same company as other all-time Bucknell greats.
Carter electrified the offense during his freshman season, and hasn't looked back since seeing his first action in week five. In that first season, Carter totaled 33 receptions for 396 yards. His output jumped mightily during his sophomore season with 53 receptions for 959 yards and nine touchdowns. Finally, halfway through his senior campaign, Carter has posted 175 receptions, 2391 yards, and 18 touchdowns through 29 career contests.
Whether it's with his big-playmaking ability, or his consistent hands, Carter has been an impact player for each of the quarterbacks that he has played with throughout his time here. Because of his impact, Carter earned First Team All-Patriot League honors in 2014 and Second Team All-Patriot League plaudits in 2015.
But it wasn't until late in his high school career that Carter had seriously considered playing football in college, and Bucknell was the choice he made to continue his football experience.
“I was more of a track kid growing up,” says Carter. “My coaches told me that I had the opportunity to play Division I football, and I absolutely wanted to give it a try. Senior year was the only productive year of high school football for me, and I was having a lot of fun, so I wanted to continue it after high school.”
Little did he know that making the decision to play football in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, would cause 51-year-old records to fall. Last Saturday, Carter had five catches for 69 yards; that performance helped him surpass the records for most receptions and receiving yards in a career held by Hall-of-Famer Mitchell for over half a century. Carter is also one touchdown away from breaking the program record for touchdown receptions in a career, as he is currently tied with Mitchell and Erb with 18 touchdowns.
These accomplishments showcase the success that Carter has proved on the field, and for someone who puts in as much time as Carter does off the field, he certainly is deserving of this level of success. Carter acknowledges the impact he has had as he was approaching these records this season, but knows there is more to just breaking records when it comes to the team.
“Honestly, at the beginning of the year, I didn't know too much about the records, but as I've gotten closer and closer, more people have been coming up to me to tell me how close I've been getting,” he says. “For me, it's better to just keep that to the side and not even focus on it. I knew that the records would eventually come, and records are great and everything, but winning means a little bit more for me.”
It may seem that the catches, big-yardage plays and touchdowns come easy to Carter, but a lot more goes on behind the scenes that contributes to the weekly success the senior has on the field. The entire offense works together as one cohesive unit to prepare for each week's game.
“For the wide receiver core, we have a thing called ECP. “E” for effort, “C” for consistency, and “P” for playmaking,” explains Carter. “I feel like as an offense, we need to live by that, and we do. If you're putting in the effort, and you do it consistently, the playmaking is always going to be there.”
Carter maintained this mindset throughout the team's non-conference slate, hoping that it would adequately prepare the squad for Patriot League play. Even after winning the team's conference opener against Holy Cross, there are still lessons to be learned.
“Our non-conference schedule woke us up,” notes Carter. “Since we didn't see the wins or the production that we would have liked to have seen, we did see where we needed to improve and how to do that going into league play. You would like to come out of those early games with more wins for a confidence boost, but we know the areas where we needed to improve, and we've been working hard on those, so hopefully everything is resolved during league play.”
This process takes plenty of game film and walkthroughs during practice, and the entire team needs to buy in to making the necessary changes if they want to succeed in the Patriot League.
Part of this means trusting in those around you to not only do what they need to do to improve, but also to push each other to do better week in and week out. For Carter, one student-athlete from the offensive line is always there for him to rely on throughout the week.
“The one person who can get me out of any slump or help me out in any moment of time is Julie'n Davenport,” says Carter. “We roomed together during the summer, we worked out during the summer, and we have a pretty good understanding of each other and what it takes to push each other even further.”
Despite the work put in individually and as a team, to make the squad the best it can be, injuries have hurt this Bison in 2016 on both sides of the ball. Whether a player is day-to-day or out for the season, Carter understands that they need to be ready to contend with those injuries, no matter who goes down with one.
“We're a very hard-hitting team, very aggressive, so we know injuries are going to happen,” he notes. “It's unfortunate, but the next man up has to be ready to go. Every moment and every position, we may have taken some tough losses this year, but we have the players to step up and come in to produce.”
Injuries can create chaos for a collegiate team if the right response isn't taken to help the team get past those injuries, and Carter believes that they have taken the right steps to contend even while missing players. While his eyes are focused on the opposing cornerbacks and safeties each Saturday, he knows his entire team has its eyes on a bigger prize for the end of the season.
“We want to be the most explosive offense in the league, but we've got some work to do there. For the team, we want to win the Patriot League. It's still wide open.”
Note: This Story Appeared in a Recent Bucknell Football Gameday Program
