Stephen Carr Ready to Think Less While Running After IU Staff Does "Swell" Job Recruiting Him

Image: IU Athletics

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

It is the summer of the Transfer Portal, maybe not the last, and IU was the beneficiary of former five-star recruit and USC running back Stephen Carr. Carr, who met with the IU media via Zoom, for the first time, left his dream school of USC to head to Indiana where his former running backs coach Deland McCullough landed in the off-season. It takes a good recruiter to land a recruit with the capabilities of Carr and according to the man himself IU did a “swell job”.

“I think (McCullough) had a little to do with my decision to come here. This Indiana team is great. I watched some of their games last season and it was hard to not pick this school. The transfers that came in, I have to give credit to the recruiting staff. They did a swell job.” Carr said on Tuesday.

Recruiting any player can cause coaches to put on a show, but to Carr IU was different. “I think is all about the statements that they made. It's not like they were giving me the old rinky dink, normal catchphrases that other recruits, or recruiting staffs use. They were getting more straight to the point about how this program, how they run their program. The simple type of codes that they live by and that's that's what stuck to me the most, you know, because simple is effective.” Carr explained.

Carr had a productive career at USC, but not without flaws. He played in 35 games with only six starts at USC and totaled 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns on 264 carries. He showed elusiveness, but not the consistency year in and year out to become a main stay at the top of the depth chart.

For Carr it starts with not thinking too much on the field. “I would describe it as very elusive.” Carr said. “And I could run downhill, I think I just need to make better decisions with my run game, and that'll take me to the next level. Stop thinking too much, you know, just get straight to the point.”

His best season may have been his first when Carr averaged 5.6 yards a carry. “I don't think it comes down to being that player again from my freshman year I think it's, that's just the way I've played my whole life, you know what I mean is, if there's things that you always are gonna have to fix nobody's ever going to be perfect. So when I say just thinking less is just the thing that I've carried throughout Pop Warner high school and college, you know what I mean. So, I'm just trying to improve that and really tune in to it this season.” Carr said.

There is more to the running back position than carrying the ball and scoring touchdowns. Carr is trying to replace a three-year starter in Stevie Scott who not only was good running the ball, but very good in pass protection. For an offensive line that gave up a lot of pressure last season protecting the quarterback is going to be important.

“Pass pro is the number one thing that a running back needs because if you can't pass block, it's hard to put you in a game.” Carr explained. “They blitz you every time that you in a game where they'll find a way to, you know, they'll find a way to break you. But yeah past poll is definitely a huge thing. I taken that I hold on my shoulders. You know what I mean because I've got to protect the quarterback.”

It is not set in stone that Stephen Carr will be the Hoosiers starting running back when Fall Camp breaks in late August, but the veteran player knows what needs to be done in order to earn the job.