Darren Carrington Jr. Scouting Report: Ex-NFLer’s Son A Fast Rising Recruit

Darren Carrington Jr. (6’3” 180) is a fast-rising recruit from San Diego (Calif.) Horizon Christian Academy. Carrington Jr. is the son of former San Diego Charger defensive back, Darren Sr. He is being pursued to play either wide receiver or safety by most interested programs, even though he spent a lot of time under center at quarterback last season. Recruiting initially started off a bit slow for the three-star prospect, but the combination of his highlight film, and his performance on the camp circuit has allowed Carrington Jr. to see his recruitment pick up tremendously over the past six weeks.

Carrington Jr.‘s initial offer was from Montana. Since then, he has garnered offers from such programs as San Diego State, Arizona, Tulane, Boston College, Colorado, Arizona State, Northwestern, and San Jose State. Despite the increased attention, it’s been said that Carrington Jr. would likely shut down his recruitment completely if he received a committable offer from Oregon, where he plans to camp next month. Regardless of what transpires, he is expected to see his stock increase even further if he is able to maintain his current progression through the summer and produce a strong senior season.

Positives:

Elite level ball skills and body control

Soft hands

Football intelligence

Questions:

Thin frame

Long speed

Limited route tree

Carrington Jr. is a kid with good height and impressive length. With that said, he doesn’t have the biggest frame, nor does he project to carry much more than 200 pounds in college. However, he does look to possess a good amount of wiry strength.

Carrington uses long strides to eat up a defender’s cushion but isn’t a true burner as his speed tends to taper off a bit after his initial burst off the line. A very natural pass catcher, Carrington has soft hands and effortlessly plucks the ball away from his frame. Combine that with his vertical jump, and he is tremendous in his ability to go up in the air and make spectacular catches. His ball skills are truly elite as he is able to give his quarterback a greater margin for error with his capacity to make plays over defenders on off target throws and 50/50 balls. Possesses the body control to redirect his momentum in the air and contort his body to adjust to poorly thrown passes.

From a route running perspective, Carrington Jr. is a bit limited at this time. He is primarily assigned to threaten opposing defenses vertically with a combination of take offs, deep posts, and wheel routes when he occasionally lines up at the tight end position. Carrington Jr.‘s movement skills do indeed translate to him being able to generate separation in between the numbers, however. But with his height he projects to be more of a “speed cut” guy using subtle changes of direction to create space between him and a defender as opposed to player who sinks his hip at the top of routes and gets in and out of breaks quickly. Carrington should ultimately translate to being an starter at the collegiate level once he becomes more proficient at route running

Darren Carrington WR #7 Jr Yr Class of 2013 (via dvcballa21)