Rubin Andre Carter (born May 12, 1979) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach recently for

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and former player in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). A

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, and was a unanimous All-American. The

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

selected him with the seventh overall pick in the

2001 NFL Draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

, and he also played for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Early years

Carter was born in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He attended Oak Grove High School in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. As a senior, he was a ''USA Today'' All-America high school selection, and the Gatorade California Player of the Year. He was also rated as the top defensive lineman and a high school All-America selection by ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine.

College career

Carter attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and played for the

California Golden Bears football The California Golden Bears football program represents the University of California, Berkeley in college football as a member of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division I FBS level. The team plays its home games at Californi ...

team from 1997 to 2000. During his junior and senior years he was a first-team All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

selection. As a senior in 2000, he won the

Morris Trophy Coaches of the Pac-12 Conference bestow the following awards at the end of each football season. The conference was founded in its current form as the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1959, but traces its roots to the Pacific Coast Co ...

, awarded to the Pac-10's top defensive lineman, and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American. In addition to being selected as the Golden Bears' most valuable player, Carter was also a finalist for the

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athle ...

, given to the nation's top defensive player.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Carter was selected by the

in the first round of the

. Because the 49ers used a 3-4 defense under Head Coach

Mike Nolan Michael Tullis Nolan (born March 7, 1959) is a former American football coach. Nolan previously served as a head coach for the San Francisco 49ers, and a defensive coordinator for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Washington Redskins, ...

, Carter was moved to

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

. While playing for the 49ers, he made 154 solo tackles, 32 sacks, and 12 pass deflections in 69 games.

Washington Redskins

Carter signed a six-year, $30 million contract with the

as an unrestricted free agent on March 14, 2006. The Redskins moved Carter back to

, his natural position. In his first year with the Redskins, he had 56 total tackles and six sacks. He showed much improvement in 2007, with 55 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles. He also had a safety in a 34-3 win over the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. Carter's best season as a Redskin came in 2009 when he totalled 11 sacks. However, in 2010 the Redskins hired a new coach,

Mike Shanahan Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he led ...

, who changed their 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense which required Carter to play outside linebacker. Carter was never fully comfortable with the move. By mid-season, and at Carter's request, the coaching staff had him playing from a three-point stance on passing downs. The Redskins released Carter on March 1, 2011.

New England Patriots

Carter announced on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

page on August 7 that he will be playing for the

in 201

It was later confirmed by Ian Rapoport of the

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

and Michael Lombardi of the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...

. According to Rapoport, Carter signed a one-year deal with a base salary of $1.75m. He also received a $500k signing bonus and the chance to earn another $500k in incentives, making the contract worth up to $2.75 million. On November 13, 2011, Carter had a career game against the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

, recording 4 sacks and tying the Patriots single game sack record. On Sunday, December 18, 2011 while playing against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, Carter tore his left quadriceps tendon and missed the remainder of the 2011 regular season as well as the playoffs, as he underwent surgery. Despite being injured, Carter was one of eight Patriots honored by a selection to the

2012 Pro Bowl The 2012 Pro Bowl was the National Football League's all-star game for the 2011 season. It took place at 2:00 pm local time on Sunday, January 29, 2012, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The AFC defeated the NFC, 59–41. The 59 point ...

Patriots franchise record

* Most sacks in a single game: 4 (2011) (vs

) (tied)

Oakland Raiders

On September 26, 2012, the

announced they had signed Carter. On April 9, 2013 Carter re-signed with the Raiders on a one-year deal. On August 31, 2013, he was released.

New England Patriots

Carter re-signed with the Patriots on October 22, 2013 to add a veteran presence to a Patriots defense that lost

Vince Wilfork Vincent Lamar Wilfork (born November 4, 1981) is a former American football nose tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes ...

and

Jerod Mayo Jerod Mayo Sr. (born February 23, 1986) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the inside linebackers coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Mayo played college football for the University ...

to season-ending injuries earlier in the season.

Career statistics

Coaching career

In August 2015, Carter returned to California as an undergraduate assistant. On February 10, 2017 Carter was hired by the Miami Dolphins as an assistant defensive line coach. When Adam Gase was fired by Miami and subsequently hired by the

, Carter moved with Gase to New York and became the Jets Defensive Line coach. In 2021 Carter became the defensive Line Coach at Louisiana State University (LSU).

Personal life

Carter is the son of former

defensive tackle

Rubin Carter Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (May 6, 1937 – April 20, 2014) was an American-Canadian middleweight boxer, wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for murder, until released following a petition of habeas corpus after almost 20 years in prison. In ...

. He has a wife, Bethany, and two children: stepdaughter, Aysha, born in 1993, and a son, Quincy, born in 2007. His middle name was given to him by his father who named him after his close friend and teammate Andre Townsend.

References

External links

Oakland Raiders bio

New England Patriots bio

New York Jets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Andre 1979 births Living people African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football All-American college football players American Conference Pro Bowl players American football defensive ends American football linebackers California Golden Bears football players Miami Dolphins coaches New England Patriots players New York Jets coaches Oakland Raiders players People from Denver Players of American football from San Jose, California San Francisco 49ers players Washington Redskins players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople