Michael Carter (2021) - Patterson Medal Winners - University of North Carolina Athletics

Michael Carter

Induction:
2021
Class:
2021

2021 — Michael Carter: Football (Navarre, Fla.)
Carter is Carolina’s single-game, single-season and career leader in yards per rush and finished his four-year career fourth in Tar Heel history with 3,404 rushing yards and sixth in all-purpose yards with 4,710.

The Navarre, Fla., native averaged 6.62 yards per rush on 514 career attempts and set the single-season record with 8.0 yards per rush in 2020, when he helped lead the Tar Heels to their first-ever appearance in the Orange Bowl.

Carter was named first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference in 2020 and second-team as a junior and was a first-team All-America by Pro Football Focus as a senior. He rushed for 1,245 yards as a senior, the eighth-most ever by a Tar Heel and his second 1,000-yard season and led the ACC with 113.2 rushing yards per game.

He ran for 308 yards in Carolina’s record-shattering 62-26 win at Miami. It was the second-most yards ever gained by a Tar Heel, the fourth most in ACC history and was part of an NCAA-record 544 yards gained by teammates (including 246 by Javonte Williams) in one game. His average gain of 12.8 yards on 24 attempts vs. the Hurricanes broke the previous school record of 12.6 per carry, which Carter had set vs. Virginia Tech in 2020 (214 yards on 17 carries).

A fourth-round pick by the New York Jets in the 2021 NFL Draft, Carter finished his career fifth in ACC history in yards per rush. He rushed for 100 or more yards nine times in his career, including five games with 150 or more, and scored 28 touchdowns (22 by rush and six by receptions).