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Quincy Carter 'living a day-to-day life now'
Ex-Georgia QB lands backup spot for AFL team in K.C.
By STEVE HUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/29/08
He has been a Bulldog, a Cowboy, a Jet and an Alouette, and even a Bossier-Shreveport BattleWing. Quincy Carter has yet another football identity today backup quarterback for the Kansas City Brigade of the Arena Football League.
Tuesday, the Brigade activated Carter off its practice squad to back up rookie starter D. Bryant. Kansas City is struggling at 3-9, with issues at quarterback (Bryant's rating ranks 20th in the 17-team league.).
"Tough to say right now," Brigade coach Kevin Porter said when asked about Carter's possibilities with the team. "There's always doubts [about how this chance will play out], but Quincy understands the position he's in. The opportunities are coming along less often for him, and he has to make the best of them."
Saying his mind and his body are right after spending nearly six months working with former Dallas Cowboys linebacker and drug-addiction survivor Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Carter, 30, is attempting to approach this comeback with a very simple attitude.
"I'm living a day-to-day life now. I can't take it beyond that," he said, repeating the mantra that was central to his most recent stay in drug rehab.
"I have to control what I can control today and not worry about tomorrow. When I do that, that's when I get in trouble."
Each stop along Carter's career seemingly has represented a crisis-rich crossroads. From leading Southwest DeKalb to a state title in 1995 to his three-year run at Georgia and on into professional football, Carter has been a lightning-rod figure. Scrutiny and controversy and negative headlines have followed him much of the way.
He would take the Cowboys to 10 wins and the postseason in 2003, only to be released in training camp the following year after failing a drug test and opening himself to questions about leadership. The New York Jets let him go after one season, the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League released him after just a month, amid more reports of drug problems. Back in Dallas, he was arrested on a marijuana charge in late 2006.
The backstory is much the same this time.
Carter began climbing out of his latest dark hole in November, shortly after another arrest, this in the backwaters of professional football.
This time, though, he had help. Henderson, the flashiest player on America's Team in the late 1970s who was brought down by cocaine dependency, was interested. Meeting with Carter shortly after he had pled guilty to possession of marijuana in a Shreveport, La., courtroom, Henderson threw him a lifeline .
"He surrendered, man," Henderson recently told the Kansas City Star of the meeting with Carter. "He said, 'Tell me what you want me to do.' It choked me up. I knew I had to help this man."
What followed was an immediate trip to Florida and a rehab facility. Carter spent close to four months in a halfway house overseen by Henderson while pondering a return to football.
"He has been like a life coach in the process," Carter said of Henderson. "And we've continued that relationship."
Playing in a league of last resort the Arena League2, as a BattleWing Carter had sporadic success. He would begin conversations with the Brigade about playing in Kansas City, but interest cooled after his November arrest. He called the team back after emerging from rehab.
"It's a great situation here, it really is," Carter said.
Ex-Georgia QB lands backup spot for AFL team in K.C.
By STEVE HUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/29/08
He has been a Bulldog, a Cowboy, a Jet and an Alouette, and even a Bossier-Shreveport BattleWing. Quincy Carter has yet another football identity today backup quarterback for the Kansas City Brigade of the Arena Football League.
Tuesday, the Brigade activated Carter off its practice squad to back up rookie starter D. Bryant. Kansas City is struggling at 3-9, with issues at quarterback (Bryant's rating ranks 20th in the 17-team league.).
"Tough to say right now," Brigade coach Kevin Porter said when asked about Carter's possibilities with the team. "There's always doubts [about how this chance will play out], but Quincy understands the position he's in. The opportunities are coming along less often for him, and he has to make the best of them."
Saying his mind and his body are right after spending nearly six months working with former Dallas Cowboys linebacker and drug-addiction survivor Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, Carter, 30, is attempting to approach this comeback with a very simple attitude.
"I'm living a day-to-day life now. I can't take it beyond that," he said, repeating the mantra that was central to his most recent stay in drug rehab.
"I have to control what I can control today and not worry about tomorrow. When I do that, that's when I get in trouble."
Each stop along Carter's career seemingly has represented a crisis-rich crossroads. From leading Southwest DeKalb to a state title in 1995 to his three-year run at Georgia and on into professional football, Carter has been a lightning-rod figure. Scrutiny and controversy and negative headlines have followed him much of the way.
He would take the Cowboys to 10 wins and the postseason in 2003, only to be released in training camp the following year after failing a drug test and opening himself to questions about leadership. The New York Jets let him go after one season, the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League released him after just a month, amid more reports of drug problems. Back in Dallas, he was arrested on a marijuana charge in late 2006.
The backstory is much the same this time.
Carter began climbing out of his latest dark hole in November, shortly after another arrest, this in the backwaters of professional football.
This time, though, he had help. Henderson, the flashiest player on America's Team in the late 1970s who was brought down by cocaine dependency, was interested. Meeting with Carter shortly after he had pled guilty to possession of marijuana in a Shreveport, La., courtroom, Henderson threw him a lifeline .
"He surrendered, man," Henderson recently told the Kansas City Star of the meeting with Carter. "He said, 'Tell me what you want me to do.' It choked me up. I knew I had to help this man."
What followed was an immediate trip to Florida and a rehab facility. Carter spent close to four months in a halfway house overseen by Henderson while pondering a return to football.
"He has been like a life coach in the process," Carter said of Henderson. "And we've continued that relationship."
Playing in a league of last resort the Arena League2, as a BattleWing Carter had sporadic success. He would begin conversations with the Brigade about playing in Kansas City, but interest cooled after his November arrest. He called the team back after emerging from rehab.
"It's a great situation here, it really is," Carter said.
