Quinn Carroll, the top-rated football player in Minnesota’s 2019 graduating class, announced his college choice on live TV Tuesday night and he’s not staying home to play for the Golden Gophers.
Carroll made his announcement live on KARE 11’s 10 p.m. newscast on Tuesday, letting the world know that he plans to further his education and football career at Notre Dame.
And Quinn Carroll is not a Gopher. #AsExpected, it’s Notre Dame. At least he’s not a BADger. pic.twitter.com/SWwDqTWC3A
— Nadine Babu (@NadineBabu) May 2, 2018
“This is nothing negative against them,” Carroll told KARE’s Randy Shave when asked why he didn’t pick the Gophers,” and I’m sure that a lot of people are disappointed that I didn’t choose Minnesota, but, you know, they have a lot of great things to offer but I just felt called elsewhere.”
And who can blame him? Notre Dame just had two offensive lineman selected in the first nine picks of the NFL Draft, with guard Quentin Nelson going 6th overall to the Colts and tackle Mike McGlinchey chosen by the 49ers 9th overall.
Carroll, 6-foot-6, 295 pounds, is rated the 87th-best junior high school football recruit in the country by 247 Sports, and ranks 12th among offensive linemen.
The four-star recruit had offers from pretty much every big time college in the country, and in March he narrowed his list of suitors to six: Notre Dame, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.
Carroll’s father, Jay Carroll played tight end for the Gophers and went on to play in the NFL with the Vikings and Buccaneers. His older brother Collin Carroll played at Virginia Tech.
Jay Carroll tweeted Tuesday night that his son made his announcement on live TV because they committed to do so more than six months. He also said the decision came down to three key criteria.
“1) A faith based institution, 2) A unique academic experience and 3) A chance to create his own personal experience rather than follow his old man (U of M) or brother (VT).”
