You’d be hard-pressed to find someone more physical than Carter Czapski Carter Czapski 6'2" | 215 lbs | LB/RB Utica | 2027 State MI . He’s a guy you can trust on offense to convert a 3rd and short, and a guy on defense you can trust to stop a 3rd and short.

As a linebacker, Carter does an excellent job of stopping the run. I think he takes a split second longer to react than I’d like, but once he gets on his horse, Carter sports good pursuit and sound tackling. Especially when going up against the inside run, Carter isn’t afraid to take on a block.

Carter also has a handful of defensive highlights, as alluded to earlier. Mostly playing RB, I’m impressed with Carter’s physicality. I wouldn’t call him a polished ballcarrier, but like I said, he can earn you some tough yards.

Someone who I kind-of wrote off until recently. But you turn on his tape (and I don’t just mean highlights) and you’ll see a very tough, reactive linebacker.

Utica’s 2024 schedule was no joke. Carter faced off against teams like Dakota (x2), Grosse Pointe South, Roseville, and Warren Cousino (a team with a good rushing offense)

In all of those games, Carter proved his worth. I especially like Carter’s play as a Mike linebacker. Plus, he played quite a bit of offense, and I liked his physicality there.

Carter is another physical presence inside on defense. I really liked seeing Carter’s highlights from 2024 and am feeling really good about his trajectory and ceiling. Diving into the tape showed me a heads up player with clear football IQ and superb physicality, accented by his highlights on offense as a RB/FB.

Multiple times throughout his film, I found myself impressed with his reaction and play recognition. He stays extremely disciplined, and gets right to his spot as soon as he makes his read. His play recognition tells me he watches a good amount of film, and also has great feel for the game when he’s on the field, what the offense is trying to do or what their tendencies are. I think with a nice camp season, he will plant himself firmly on a lot of colleges radars who may be overlooking him right now.

Carter has gotten off to a great start this season.

He’s a great linebacker in the MAC who does a lot of things right but also has some room to grow. First off, I like how Carter works through blocks to stop the outside run. There are several occasions where Carter quickly diagnoses a play and makes those outside run stops that a lot of linebackers struggle with. Against the inside run, Carter does a similarly good job of quickly diagnosing the play and making a solid stop.

The main thing I’d like to see Carter improve on is explosivity and play speed. A lot of this will come from offseason training, but a lot of it also comes from experience and intentional effort. During many instances, Carter plays a few steps slower than the Elite linebackers of Michigan. Against inside runs, Carter should work on getting downhill and attacking the RB quickly. Against the outside run, he could be more explosive and decisive. Again, a lot of this comes with a lot of trial and error plus offseason training. Still a great linebacker, and someone I’m looking forward to seeing grow over the next few years!