'I'm good enough to play on Sundays': former Perry football star Matt Carrick readies for NFL Draft

It might feel like a lifetime for Matt Carrick, the time he spent at Michigan State. But it has only been six years since the 2017 Perry High School graduate began his college football journey with the Spartans.

Carrick packed a lot into those six years: He earned two bachelor's degrees, is working his way to a master’s and overcame assorted injuries to play 47 total games. Along the way, he played for two head coaches in a program that played in four bowl games, won 10 games twice and reached a national ranking as high as No. 5 during his time with the Spartans.

Now, Carrick is focused on the 2023 NFL Draft and earning an opportunity he has dreamed of pursuing since he was 5 years old.

“Right now at this point in my career, I’m good enough to play on Sundays,” Carrick said. “That has always been a dream for me.”

After redshirting his first year at Michigan State and then playing mostly special teams in 11 games in 2018, Carrick was a primary starter at guard three of the next four seasons, which included the abbreviated 2020 COVID season. He started 27 games overall. Unfortunately, injuries plagued Carrick throughout his Spartan career, including a torn ACL in 2021 and a high ankle sprain this past season in which he started all nine games he played. While it seems like it was one minor setback after another, Carrick took them all as life lessons and found ways to benefit from them while being sidelined.

“When those happened, I wasn’t thinking necessarily how bad the situation was, but how I get better from it,” Carrick said. “Because when I originally came to MSU, I was injured. It was the same type of injury. I didn't get to where I wanted to be after that injury. This is something I wanted to do, and I just have to make the choice that I was going to do it.

"It’s hard to put film out there when you’re injured out there like that. The big question for me right now is dependability, but I’m addressing that during my pregame draft stuff, and to make sure I am ready to go so it’s not ... (a) question anymore.”

Michigan State finished 5-7 (3-6 in the Big Ten) this past season. With no bowl game opportunities, the Minerva native focused on his preparation for the NFL. Between now and his pro day, Carrick wants to focus more on his techniques as an interior lineman. So he reached out to retired NFL center Olin Kreutz, a six-time Pro Bowler during his 14-season NFL career, mostly with the Chicago Bears.

Carrick believes working with someone like that can help him "make a giant leap into becoming a really good football player who can play on Sundays.”

Carrick likely will be looked at as an offensive guard by NFL teams. He won’t shy away from switching to center and he's worked on snapping the football for more than a year and a half. He is also open to playing tackle, too, if the opportunity is there for him.

“That’s something I want to get out of it more than anything,” Carrick said. “I still have to do well with combine stuff, but the big thing is I want for me to get better at football.”

More:'I knew Ohio State was the right choice': Willtrell Hartson a preferred walk-on for Buckeyes

Attitude, effort and toughness defined days as a Perry Panther

Long before he was a Spartan, Carrick was a Perry Panther. And that's where he learned his three keys to success: attitude, effort and toughness. Carrick presented all that while he was at Perry. Among his notable high school accomplishments:

• Helped Perry reach two straight Division II state championship games in 2015-16.

• Earned All-Ohio honors each of his three years as a Perry starter (2014-16).

• Rated one of the best offensive guard prospects in the country by Scout.com (No. 35), ESPN.com (No. 42) and 247Sports (No. 49).

• Ranked one of the top overall prospects in the state of Ohio by ESPN.com (No. 22), Rivals.com (No. 36) and 247Sports (No. 39).

• Named the Stark County “Lineman of the Decade” in 2020 by the Canton Repository.

• Paved the way for running back Keishaun Sims’ county-record 3,224 rushing yards in 2015 as Sims was named Ohio’s Mr. Football that season.

While Carrick was at Perry, the Panthers were at the pinnacle of the program's success under head coach Keith Wakefield. Their wing-T offense, powered by Carrick and others, became unstoppable at times.

“It’s kind of funny looking back at Perry and what we were able to accomplish as far as going to the state championship twice,” Carrick said. “That offense allows you to get it done with less talented players, but I would say that it’s also an offense that is about attitude, effort and toughness. I feel like those were the three big things that Coach Wakefield and Coach (Zach) Slates instilled in us as a team. And in order to be a great team, you have to have those three characteristics. Looking back at when I played at Perry, I would say our team was the epitome of toughness."

Carrick played both ways up front for the Panthers and also was their vocal leader. Despite being predominately a run blocker, he started getting noticed by college coaches after his junior season.

Slates watched Carrick's development first hand as the team's offensive line coach.

“He was one of those guys that had an attitude and was a nasty player, When he led, you heard him talking,” said Slates, who is entering his third year as Perry's head coach following Wakefield's retirement. “It was good to have guys like that, especially on the offensive line. ... He had that tough attitude you've got to have to be a great offensive lineman in this offense. “

Carrick went on to sign with Michigan State. Coming from a run-heavy offense, his first year was a transition period as he had worked on his pass protection while still recovering from an ACL injury he sustained during the North-South All-Star Game in 2017.

“I say the big difference between then and now is Perry has always been about running the ball, and what I quickly had to find out when I got to college is that you have to pass block, too, so I struggled with that early on in my career," Carrick said.

Slates looks forward to Carrick’s journey to the NFL. He is confident an NFL team will be happy to have him on the roster.

“I’m excited for him,” Slates said. “Not everyone could get the opportunity, and he put himself in position with his effort to give himself an opportunity to play at this level.”

Remembers playing against Dominique Robinson, Thayer Munford Jr.

If Carrick gets selected in the NFL draft, he will be the third player from Stark County to be drafted in the last two years. Both Dominique Robinson (McKinley) and Thayer Munford Jr. (Massillon) are playing their rookie seasons in the league with the Bears and Raiders, respectively.

“I think it’s really big, considering that I feel like Stark County is like one of the hotbeds of great football,” Carrick said. “To see around the country and stuff like that, I feel like Stark County is definitely home to a lot of good football players. It’s really nice to see that guys are playing at the next level, especially different guys that I’ve played against. It’s the history of Stark County looking back at all the great players that were able to do it.”

Carrick remembered playing against Robinson when he was a quarterback at McKinley, before the latter made the move to being a defensive end at Miami University on his way to the Chicago Bears taking him in the fifth round of last year's draft.

“He was a really good quarterback back then. I never knew he made the transition to defensive end,” Carrick said. “I could definitely see it from how big he was. He was a huge quarterback.”

Carrick also mentioned his encounters with Munford. They played against each other in high school and were teammates in the North-South game. Once both ended up in the Big Ten, they always would greet one another whenever Ohio State played Michigan State.

“I like Thayer a lot," Carrick said. "He’s a really good dude. I actually played with Thayer during the North-South game and got closer to him. He’s really a nice guy. Obviously, when we played each other in college, we'd always say 'wassup' after the game.”

Building relationships is Matt Carrick's legacy at Michigan State

Now that Carrick is a MSU grad, he looks back on all the memorable times he had as a Spartan.

Carrick spent his fair share of time playing with some talented players offensively, such as running back Kenneth Walker III, who now plays for the Seattle Seahawks.

“When you have guys like that who were able to play at that high level and just being around them,” Carrick said. “As an offensive lineman, it makes your job a lot easier because they were able to make plays even when sometimes there isn’t any room to make plays. It definitely makes your job easier as an offensive lineman and makes you appreciate them a lot, too.”

Carrick believed his legacy is not only how he approached the game, but how he approached people. He preaches honesty around his teammates and coaches, and for that, he is rewarded with long-term relationships with them after football.

“I always wanted to be the guy that was remembered for being real all the time,” Carrick said. “Never fake and always 100% with everyone in the building. Also the biggest thing I will remember from Michigan State is all the different relationships that I’ve been able to build with so many people from so many different backgrounds.”

More:Ron Stokes is retired from dunking but going strong as Ohio State basketball icon

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Matt Carrick focuses on NFL draft after Michigan State football career