COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE BOWLS : FREEDOM : Carter Concerned About That First Hit

Arizona tailback Ontiwaun Carter will never forget the third-quarter play in the Arizona State game Nov. 25 that sent him to the hospital with what looked like a serious neck injury. And he acknowledges he’s jittery about taking his first hit Tuesday against Utah at Anaheim Stadium.

Against Arizona State, Carter was swarmed upon by a number of tacklers and his head appeared to take the brunt of his weight and that of the Sun Devil defenders. Carter was motionless for many minutes, attended to by medical staff. An ambulance was quickly summoned to the field and a hush fell over the sellout crowd at Tucson.

The injury to Carter, a senior from Granada Hills Kennedy High, was later diagnosed as a sprained neck and he was able to leave the hospital the next morning.

“Right now, I’m about full strength,” said Carter, Arizona’s career rushing leader with 3,457 yards, including 1,163 this year. “But I haven’t taken a hit yet in a game, and I’m a little leery about contact. This is my last game and I’m glad I’m here instead of in the hospital.”

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The tale of how Carter got sidetracked on his recruiting trip to Arizona has become a legendary chapter in recent Wildcat football lore. It seems Carter was flying from Los Angeles to Tucson with a change of planes in Phoenix. A tad nervous in sprawling Sky Harbor International, he asked a flight attendant about his connection, identifying himself as a football player.

She pointed him toward another group of football players and Carter followed them onto a plane headed for Flagstaff, home of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.

After a few laughs over his gaffe and a night in the dorms, the Northern Arizona staff got Carter headed in the right direction.