LORMAN &045; Never one interested in standing around, Donald Carrie just wanted to latch on somehow with Alcorn football since he was a mere walk-on freshman out of New Orleans.

He just convinced himself to play tight end.

Carrie’s start was humble enough for a guy who started at quarterback his last two years of high school but really had little if any options for playing at the next level. That was the spring of his red-shirt year prior to the 2001 season, and Carrie picked up on something real quick between the spring and the start of fall camp.

There was a new offensive coordinator coming in, and the quarterback position was absolutely wide open.

&uot;I knew the position was wide open, and the coach hadn’t seen me play,&uot; Carrie recalled.

Carrie worked hard on the field and off, learning the plays as much as possible despite being a red-shirt freshman. And that new offensive coordinator was impressed, and the coaches stuck with him to start the season.

Four years and more than 10,000 yards later, they still have no regrets.

&uot;I think just coming from the bottom to the top &045; when I got there, he was like fifth on the depth chart,&uot; coordinator John McKenzie said. &uot;For him to go from the bottom in a 12-day period to what he is now, I guess you can look at it like rags to riches. I don’t think Donald had any idea he could accomplish all of the things he would accomplish.

&uot;The feat of throwing for 10,000 yards is remarkable to me. I was blessed to be a Hall-of-Fame quarterback who threw for 5,000 yards.&uot;

Carrie makes his final start Saturday when the Braves end their season against Jackson State in the annual Capital City Classic. He sits second in several school passing categories behind the immortal Steve McNair, is set to graduate in May in business administration and just wants to finish out his career strong with less focus on it being his last game.

The fifth-year senior is ready to admit his career had its ups and downs, but he’s developed this season into a bonafide candidate for SWAC Offensive Player of the Year.

&uot;He’s been like a big brother to me,&uot; sophomore receiver Charlie Spiller said. &uot;He took me by the shoulder and showed me the plays. I’m going to hate to see him go. He’s a leader on and off the field. He’s second behind Steve McNair &045; that’s all you have to say.&uot;

Falling down

McKenzie said he knew something was special about Carrie when he played in his first collegiate game in 2001. The Braves opened the season with their traditional game against Grambling, and then-head coach Doug Williams had the Tigers playing awfully well.

Carrie even took a shot, left the game for a couple plays and went back in. He wound up throwing for 324 yards and three touchdowns.

&uot;Donald has grown tremendously since he’s been a student-athlete at Alcorn,&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;I think what makes him so special is his ability to study film and analyze film. He’s a real student of the game. He’ll stay in Coach McKenzie’s office and look at film. He has mastered our offense and mastered the different things a defense can do to our offense from a game standpoint and a defensive line standpoint.&uot;

That was the start of an outstanding freshman campaign that started drawing comparisons to McNair after he threw for 2,743 yards and 23 touchdowns. But the sophomore campaign wasn’t anything like his first season, and Carrie’s numbers dipped somewhat while he struggled to battle a slump.

Coaches admitted he had problems with discipline. Carrie even sat out the entire first half and the first possession of the second half against Mississippi Valley, only to throw four interceptions in the second half in a disappointing 23-6 loss.

&uot;I wasn’t really used to having a lot of success and having a lot of people talk to me,&uot; Carrie said. &uot;I guess I kind of let it get to my head a little bit. Coach Thomas always said God has a way of bringing you down. I guess God was letting me realize I have to come out and play hard just like the other players.&uot;

It was enough of a sophomore slump to put some doubt in the coaches’ minds after his total yardage dipped by over 500 yards. That year backup Cory Johnson got a considerable amount of snaps, and the following spring a transfer from Ohio State checked in with the intention of competing for the starting job.

The transfer, however, didn’t stay long. Carrie got back on track midway through his junior campaign and was able to help lead the Braves into a race for the SWAC Eastern Division title that wasn’t decided until after their season-ending win over Jackson State.

&uot;He really didn’t have the quarterback mentality and had to grow into the position,&uot; McKenzie said. &uot;As a freshman, he was just focused on football. People compared him to Steve McNair. Sometimes a guy 18 or 19 years old can’t handle that, and you get distracted. You think you’ve got it all together, but if you don’t do anything to prepare for it, you’ll fall.&uot;

Getting back up

The frustration may have boiled over into the start of his junior year when the Braves struggled through a turnover-plagued 1-4 start. Carrie threw 10 interceptions with only five touchdowns, and followers of football on The Reservation were restless.

That all came before Carrie’s biggest game, the one he said he’ll remember more than any other in his career. In a tough situation against Southern in Baton Rouge, Carrie threw for a career-high 379 yards in a 36-34 come-from-behind win.

It was the first of several come-from-behind wins.

&uot;If he’s on the field and we’ve got to have it, believe me &045; I think 80 or 90 percent of the time he’s going to make it happen,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;Throughout his career we’ve had so many come-from-behind victories. That’s a true testament to him. He continues to make things happen every time he gets on the field. His ability to read defenses and his strong will to win are what made him the quarterback he is today.&uot;

Carrie helped engineer second-half comeback wins after that game against Southeastern Louisiana (down 24-14, won 27-24), Mississippi Valley (down 7-0, won 23-7) and Alabama A&M (down 12-0, won 20-15) before helping the Braves end an eight-game skid against Jackson State in the final game of the season.

He was able to finish his junior campaign with his best numbers ever, throwing for 2,833 yards and 24 touchdowns with 18 interceptions.

&uot;It didn’t matter how many points we were down by,&uot; Carrie said. &uot;We were never out of the game. We would always fight hard to the end.&uot;

He’s helped the Braves do that this year with comeback wins over North Carolina A&T, Southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi Valley. Although his total yardage and touchdown passes are down a bit, his interception total could be the lowest of his career.

He comes into Saturday’s game with just 11 picks, and his lowest was 14 during his freshman season.

&uot;Hopefully I’ll be remembered as a great quarterback who had a big heart and kind of similar to Steve McNair,&uot; Carrie said. &uot;I’m approaching this game like any other game. I’m more focused on winning than me in my last game.&uot;

But it’ll give everyone at Mississippi Veterans Stadium a chance to think what if. He’s second behind McNair in every passing category and probably knew when he first threw his hat into the race for the starting quarterback job that anything would pale in comparison to McNair’s 14,496 yards passing, 119 touchdowns and 958 completions.

But what if?

&uot;I told him when he first got started to try to set a goal,&uot; McKenzie said. &uot;I thought McNair was out of reach. Now we realize McNair was probably within reach. I’m quite sure he knows if he would have kept his head on straight that’s a goal he could have accomplished.&uot;