It took San Jose State’s Jabari Carr hard work and a trip to Virginia to get ready for college opportunity
Originally published by the San Jose Mercury News Aug. 21, 2011.
By Elliott Almond
San Jose State freshman Jabari Carr could have given up three years ago after being declared academically ineligible to play major college football.
“If you saw my transcripts, a lot of schools would say this kid isn’t going to make it,” said Carr, once heralded as a high-profile recruit at Oak Grove High.
Although saddled with learning disabilities, he wasn’t about to cast his dreams aside just because most schools quit recruiting him. Instead of enrolling in a community college in 2009, Carr attended a strict prep school in rural Virginia to become a better student.
As he prepares to make his Division I college debut three years later than planned, Carr has illustrated what can be achieved despite long odds.
“I had to make it where I can’t be denied,” the wide receiver said. “That is the attitude I had since” becoming an NCAA non-qualifier.
Carr found the prestigious Hargrave Military Academy through an online search, then persuaded his parents it would be the right place for him although he knew no one there. He also found financial aid to help offset the $28,600 tuition.
The move appealed to him because he could still play football without losing a year of college eligibility.
The transition, though, was not easy. Founded by a Baptist minister, Hargrave offers cadets a boot-camp-like atmosphere with marching, saluting and 5:30 a.m. reveille.
“When the kids come to us, they’re damaged goods,” Hargrave football coach Troy Davis said. “Jabari realized he had a lot of weaknesses. From a maturity standpoint, that got in his way. It was kind of like a shock to him.”Carr returned home after five months, though Davis tried to get him to stay for a full semester. The coach figured it was another lost cause, but Carr said he needed to be close to his family when a grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
It turns out the brief change of scenery had helped more than some realized. Carr now calls Davis to recommend others who could benefit from the discipline Hargrave provides.
“The environment showed me to really believe in myself,” said Carr, who had taken special education classes at Oak Grove. “When I was here, I talked about believing in myself, but I don’t think I really believed it.”
It has been a humbling experience for a game-breaking receiver and safety who caught 45 passes for 605 yards and seven touchdowns as a high school senior.
“For so long, everyone told him he wasn’t smart,” said Brent Brennan, a former Spartans recruiter now at Oregon State. “He just wasn’t going to have that.”
Neither was San Jose State, the one school that continued to recruit the player despite the academic risks. The belief has been paid in kind as the sociology major said he recorded a 2.9 grade-point average after two semesters at San Jose State.
Now Carr vows to become a scholar-athlete by the time he leaves a school where athletic administrators have put a premium on academics in an effort to comply with NCAA rules for graduation rates.
Although he hasn’t played since the 2009 season with Hargrave, Carr hopes to become a contributor on the field with a promising group of Spartans wide receivers. Carr, who turns 21 in September, already has become a positive presence at a time when San Jose State has a full complement of 85 scholarship athletes — a first in school history.
“We plan to keep them,” Carr said of the scholarships that had been reduced because of past academic problems. “We’re ready to turn this around. I don’t think anybody will settle for less.”
Carr’s unwavering attitude doesn’t surprise his father, Anthony Carr, a security officer at Valley Medical Center.
“A lot of people used to tell him he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t do that,” he said. “I’m proud he did what he had to do.”
The big picture never was lost on Carr, one of two sets of twins in a family of eight children. He doesn’t have inflated dreams about playing professionally and plans to earn a degree that allows him to work with Bay Area youth.
Carr’s message: education before sports. His youngest sibling, Jacari, 17, has taken it to heart as an Oak Grove running back.
Now Carr hopes to bring the same emphasis to twin Omari, a running back at San Jose City College who wants to play for the Spartans next year. Jabari has persuaded Omari to skip football this season to get his academic house in order.
“For me, going away really signified where I want to be,” Carr said. “Going away brought me closer to home.”