Quincy Carter

Lavonya Quintelle "Quincy" Carter (born October 13, 1977) is a retired American football quarterback. He was drafted in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Georgia.

Carter has also been a member of the New York Jets, Montreal Alouettes, Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings, Kansas City Brigade and Abilene Ruff Riders.

Early years
Carter attended Southwest DeKalb High School where he played quarterback. He led the Panthers to the 1995 AAAA State Championship under Coach William Godfrey.

Personal life
In 2004, Quincy Carter was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Baseball career
Carter originally signed a football letter of intent with Georgia Tech in 1996, but opted instead to play minor league baseball after being drafted by the Chicago Cubs as an outfielder 52nd overall in the 1996 MLB Draft.

With the Gulf Coast Cubs of the rookie league in 1997, Carter played in 55 games and hit .215 The following year, he was promoted to the Rockford Cubbies of Single-A and hit .211 in 105 games. He appeared in 28 games for Rockford in 1998, hitting .248 in 27 games. His final year in 1999, he went 0-for-3 in one game for the Daytona Cubs of Advanced A ball.

College career
Struggling with his baseball career, Carter went to the University of Georgia in 1998, where he won the job of starting quarterback in a highly contested battle (over future Oklahoma starter, Nate Hybl, among others) and after a good freshman season was recognized as one of the top young quarterbacks in the nation. He had a decent sophomore season but was mediocre as a junior due to injuries and inconsistency. Carter was 23-8 as a starting quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs.

He was a dual threat quarterback as Carter demonstrated this in Georgia's 28-26 win over the Kentucky Wildcats on October 24, 1998. The 6-3, 225-pound freshman ran 14 times for 114 yards and completed 10-of-14 passes for 147 yards and two touchdown passes in the contest. Carter also had a 49 yard touchdown run in the game.

Dallas Cowboys
Carter declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft after his junior season and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round (53rd overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft.

Carter became the starting quarterback for the Cowboys team as a rookie, being part of a succession of short-tenured quarterbacks following the retirement of Troy Aikman. However, two separate injuries sustained by Carter during the season, forced the team to start four different quarterbacks. Carter ended up starting eight games, both Anthony Wright and former San Diego Chargers second-overall pick Ryan Leaf started three, while former Arkansas Razorback Clint Stoerner started two.

The highlight of his rookie season was a 27-21 win against the San Francisco 49ers (finished 12-4) in Week 16. Carter showed promise with 241 yards passing and two touchdowns, to become just the second Cowboys rookie to win NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. He also had an important a 20-13 victory over the New York Giants in which Carter threw for nearly 200 yards, scrambled for a first down late in the game, and threw the game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Antonio Bryant.

Dallas would sign another young quarterback and former baseball player, Chad Hutchinson, following Carter's rookie season. He lost the starting job during his second season to Hutchinson after a loss to the Arizona Cardinals in which he engaged in a heated sideline "discussion" with Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. The highlight of the 2002 season was Carter leading Dallas to a dramatic come from behind win for the second time in three weeks (the other one was against the Saint Louis Rams), on his 25th birthday he turned a 13-0 deficit to the Carolina Panthers, into a 14-13 victory by throwing an 80-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway with 3:55 left, then a 24-yarder to Antonio Bryant with 56 seconds to go. This would end up being Carter's greatest moment with the Cowboys.

However, in his third season, under newly-hired head coach Bill Parcells, Carter retook the starting role and led the Cowboys to a 10-6 record and a playoff appearance.

During the offseason, coming off a successful season, Carter was shockingly released on August 4, 2004 under unclear circumstances. The group of quarterbacks for the Cowboys that offseason had expanded with the trade for yet another former baseball player, Drew Henson, and the acquisition of Vinny Testaverde off waivers. Before Carter's release, it had been projected that he had a slight edge over Testaverde for the starting role and that former third-string quarterback, Tony Romo, would be released. Many believe Carter was released because of a failed drug test, and Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said that for reasons including but not limited to his drug problems, Carter could not be trusted with the leadership of the team. The official Cowboys statement regarding his release was a failed drug test, a poor attitude over the signing of Testaverde, and an average performance during the first week of training camp.

Carter played for the Cowboys as jersey number 17.

New York Jets
After being released by the Cowboys, Carter was signed a one-year contract with the New York Jets where he served as a backup to Chad Pennington and started three games (winning two) after Pennington injured his rotator cuff. He suffered a drug relapse during the 2004 playoffs and has since received treatment for drug addiction and bipolar disorder in Houston. The Jets released him during the 2005 offseason.

Montreal Alouettes
On April 4, 2006, Carter was signed by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League to a one-year contract with an option for 2007 only to be released by the team the following month. On the subject of being released, Carter remarked, "This is a joke... an insult." One CFL club official told the Montreal Gazette that Carter has "a serious marijuana problem."

On December 15, 2006 Carter was arrested in Irving, Texas on possession of marijuana charges. He was released in lieu of a $500 bond paid by Dallas-Fort Worth area sports talk-show host and journalist, Randy Galloway.

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings
In February 2007, Carter signed with the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings, of af2. Through the first three games of the 2007 season, he was the third rated passer, with a rating of 124.3, throwing 18 touchdown passes, but he was suspended indefinitely from the team in late May for missing team meetings. Battle Wings coach Jon Norris named Carter the starting quarterback for their June 16 game against the Corpus Christi Sharks. He passed for a franchise-record eight touchdowns in the Battle Wings' 81-35 win.

Carter was arrested on possession charges by Shreveport police on October 12, 2007. Because the incident marked the second time he was arrested for the same crime, the charge was a felony. He was released on his 30th birthday, on a bond of $5,224, according to an official in the records department at the Caddo Correctional Facility.

Kansas City Brigade
On June 2, Carter signed with the Arena Football League's Kansas City Brigade. The Brigade, who had one victory at the time of the signing, were hoping Carter's strong arm could resurrect their season. Herman Edwards, the former Kansas City Chiefs head coach who coached Carter while with the Jets, commented on Carter's personality calling him of "good character." Carter wore #3 with Kansas City. Carter started the last three games of the season for Kansas City and was signed to a two-year contract extension.

On July 31, 2008 Carter had a workout with the Miami Dolphins. However, he was not signed. On October 20, 2008 he was released by the Brigade.

Abilene Ruff Riders
Carter signed a one-year contract with the Abilene Ruff Riders of the Indoor Football League in March 2009. On May 10, 2009, he was arrested by Abilene police for an outstanding warrant, related to a DWI arrest in south Texas and subsequent probation violation. Carter was arrested again on June 18, 2009, for failing to pay his bondsman after his May 10 arrest. Returning from injury, Carter no-showed for the July 4 game and was subsequently cut from the team.

Post-football career
Carter has become an independent youth football coach in Georgia specializing in training for the quarterback position.