When it comes to eye popping stat lines, you won’t find many that are more impressive than those of Liberty-Eylau defensive end Lagaryonn Carson. Over the past two seasons, Carson has piled up 271 tackles, 72 TFLs, 38 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, and 3 PBUs. Those are numbers that can’t even be duplicated on a video game, folks.
Carson was flat out unblockable all of last year, as he earned himself defensive player of the year honors for the entire Texas 4A classification. Despite having another dominant year on the gridiron, Carson and his teammates came up short on their quest for a state title, as they were bounced out of contention in the quarterfinals. With his senior season kicking off with a big season opening clash against Gilmer, Carson is looking to go out with a bang in his final year of high school competition, but what many don’t know is that he was close to not being able to take the field this year at all.
Earlier this month, Carson had to meet with the UIL eligibility board regarding if he would be able to join his teammates on the field this fall due to the fact that he just turned 19 years old before the start of his senior year. While it isn’t uncommon to see kids be a little older than others during their final year of high school, Carson and his family had to make the trip down to Austin to meet with the board so they could officially vote and rule on his eligibility.
The ruling returned in favor of Carson with a tally of 5-4, so it ended up being pretty close despite there being confidence that he would get cleared to play his senior year. Losing Carson for his senior season would have been soul crushing for a kid who has been working hard both on and off the field to make sure he is ready to go and help his team this fall, but thankfully for him and his coaches he is ready to terrorize opposing offenses in 2016.
After receiving some good news from the UIL, Carson made a long awaited pit stop at the Texas football office to meet with his future coaches. Due to extenuating circumstances, Carson has not been able to make it down to Austin regularly with his fellow Texas commits, but he has been one of the most vocal recruiters on social media for the Longhorns this cycle. Carson committed to Charlie Strong and his staff very early in the process, and despite not being a regular visitor in Austin his commitment is very firm.
Carson is an absolute joy to watch on the field and even though he has already posted some silly numbers his last two seasons, he still hasn’t even come close to reaching his ceiling as a player just yet. At 6’4, 260 pounds Carson currently is listed as a strong side defensive end, but once he hits a college weight room he could easily end up sliding down to defensive tackle after he bulks up some. Regardless of which position he ends up playing on the collegiate level, Carson still has plenty of room to grow physically, mentally, and technically, and that’s why he’s only scratching the surface of his potential. When Charlie Strong gets his hands on this kid down in Austin, you can bet that he is going to mold him into a monster.
