EJ Carter’s goals for his final season at Notre Dame High School included producing 2,000-plus total yards and helping the Fighting Irish advance to the TSSAA state playoffs.
Things took a major turn for the 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior just two weeks into the schedule.
After totaling 110 total yards and scoring two touchdowns against Walker Valley in the opener, Carter was on his way to another big performance versus Signal Mountain as he took his first eight carries for 62 yards, including a 40-yard rush where the shifty and explosive tailback broke five tackles.
Carter — who had rushed for 1,607 as a junior and was a Times Free Press Dynamite Dozen selection last summer as one of the Chattanooga area’s top 12 college football prospects in the class of 2025 — suffered a devastating ACL tear in the second quarter of the Walker Valley game when he was taken down by a horse-collar tackle.
While that ended his ability to make an impact on the field during games, Carter shined with his contributions of positive encouragement from the sideline. And at the recent team banquet for the Irish, he received a trio of awards: one for enthusiasm, another for Christian character and a third recognizing him as a permanent captain.
“When I first got injured, I was just thinking about not being able to finish out my senior year with my guys,” Carter said. “I had to have my teammate’s backs and support them even though I could not play anymore. My motivation was down a bit at first, but I found things to motivate and push me to get back to have a chance to play college football.”
Described by his coaches as a “gym rat,” Carter has made significant progress in the rehabilitation process for his knee injury while maintaining a 3.8 GPA in the classroom.
And even minus most of his senior season, Carter reached one of his biggest dreams this past Saturday, when he made his college football decision final and chose the Ivy League’s Penn Quakers. Having already made an offer to Carter last summer, Penn coaches stayed true based on his potential even after his injury.
“To get into an Ivy League school is such an amazing opportunity,” said Carter, who is joining an NCAA Division I conference that announced in December it would, for the first time, allow its member schools to take part in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs starting in 2025.
“The fact that the school still wants to take a chance on me, that’s big,” Carter added. “I have never given up hope and truly believe I will have a major comeback story. My hard work has paid off, and I look to execute and maximize on every opportunity as I pursue my dreams of playing in the NFL one day.”
Carter was one of many Chattanooga-area football players celebrated by their high school programs Wednesday, the start of the second signing period for NCAA Division I and II programs in the current recruiting cycle. Here’s a look at some of the others.
Samford gets Pickett
Sam Pickett, one of the most dynamic players in Marion County High School history and a key leader in the Warriors’ run to the TSSAA Class 2A state championship this past season, has signed with Samford University, an FCS program in Birmingham, Alabama, that competes in the Southern Conference alongside the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Pickett chose Samford over offers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Army, Austin Peay, Furman, Southeast Missouri and Wofford, among others.
“I had a great relationship with their coaches, and it just felt like the right fit for me,” Pickett said of the Bulldogs. “Samford was also a place where the coaches told me I would play offense. I had several other schools that were telling me I would start out on defense and get a few plays on offense, but I feel like I’m a better fit on offense.
“I also like that fact that Samford is closer to home, so my family can come watch more often. There was just a real good energy around the program.”
Pickett was named MVP of the Class 2A BlueCross Bowl state title game and was also a Tennessee Titans Mr. Football semifinalist after accumulating more than 1,700 offensive yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior.
“The scary thing is Sam hasn’t even touched his potential yet,” Warriors coach Tim Starkey said. “I think he will wind up being better in college than he was for us because now he can just concentrate on one side of the ball and one position group. We had him playing both sides and several different positions on offense because we needed his talent all over the field.
“He will raise his level around other great players, too, because Sam is very competitive. He’s just a special player.”
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Marion County’s Sam Pickett (4) runs inside Milan’s 5-yard line for a big gain during the TSSAA Class 2A BlueCross Bowl state championship game on Nov. 7 at Finley Stadium.Chattooga star races on
Georgia’s leading rusher for the 2024 season is headed to Kentucky’s Murray State after the Racers of the FCS Missouri Valley Conference signed Chattooga running back Zayden Cook. The 5-11, 195-pounder, who originally committed to SoCon member Wofford, is coming off a senior season in which he rushed for 2,939 yards and 31 touchdowns and was named a state all-classification first-team running back by the Touchdown Club of Atlanta.
Taking his act to WCU
Bryce Hart, a standout linebacker for Ringgold, will sign with SoCon member Western Carolina University next Monday in his high school’s theater. It’s an appropriate place for “The Hitman” to celebrate his college decision because, in addition to his football prowess, Hart is a member of the school’s one-act play ensemble that has won two state championships in the past three years. A member of the Times Free Press Best of Preps first-team defense for the 2024 season, Hart (6-2, 215) amassed 162 tackles (including eight for loss) and 12 quarterback pressures in his final prep year.
A pipeline to Shorter
Shorter University, a Division II program in Rome, Georgia, signed five area players Wednesday, including Calhoun defensive back Makadan Griffin, who helped the Yellow Jackets win the GHSA Class AAA state title in December. The Hawks also signed Gordon Lee offensive linemen Jonah Davenport and Caden Oliver, Ridgeland linebacker Kain Brown and Trion tight end/defensive end Logan Stokes.
And also to Tusculum
Five area players signed with Tennessee’s Tusculum University, a D-II program in Greene County, with that group including four players from TSSAA Region 3-4A: Red Bank defensive back Markee Crutcher and running back/defensive back Josiah Featherstone, Soddy Daisy offensive lineman Lake Renfro and Hixson defensive back Ron Suttles. The fifth signee for the Pioneers was defensive lineman Curtis Drake of East Hamilton, which finished atop Region 4-5A this past season.
Ready for the next level
Three players who wrapped up their prep football careers in the Chattanooga area — Tyner’s Jaeden Isbell, Soddy Daisy’s Gannon Montgomery and Whitwell’s Bennett McDougal — and another who played at East Hamilton before finishing elsewhere (Michael Hinton, most recently at Kentucky’s Paducah Tilghman) are bound for Lindsey Wilson College, an NAIA program in Columbia, Kentucky.
Even before McDougal had made up his mind about his football future — the Tigers standout signed with the Blue Raiders on Wednesday, cementing his earlier commitment — he was already hard at work.
After taking a one-week break when his senior prep season ended in mid-November (Whitwell lost in the second round of the TSSAA Class 1A playoffs), McDougal was back in the weight room, where in a little more than two months he has added more than 10 quality pounds — he’s now at 6-2, 220 — to help himself get ready for his first year of college football.
“I had seven other offers, but ultimately it was a God thing for me,” McDougal said. “I prayed about it multiple times a day until I was certain of my decision. The staff at Lindsey Wilson stayed in constant contact with me and made me feel wanted. It just felt like the right place for me.
McDougal was a Tennessee Titans Mr. Football finalist after totaling 1,472 total yards of offense, 21 touchdowns and 57 tackles in 2024.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com, Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com and Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Whitwell’s Bennett McDougal hangs on to the football as Chattanooga Prep’s Cedric Baulding tries to bring him down during a preseason jamboree matchup on Aug. 17 at Finley Stadium.CHATTANOOGA-AREA COLLEGE SPORTS SIGNEES CLASS OF 2025
BASEBALL
Baylor: Jax Bishop, Tennessee; Matt Dill, Troy.
East Hamilton: Carson Davis, Tennessee Tech; Gavin Huskey, Southeastern Illinois.
McCallie: Chandler Jones, Tennessee.
Notre Dame: Cooper Jones, East Tennessee State.
Soddy Daisy: Cooper Poe, Walters State.
BASKETBALL
Bradley Central: Caiden Bauldwin, Walters State; Tyrese Stovall, Walters State.
Calhoun: Sa’Niah Dorsey, Augusta University; Allie Duke, Young Harris.
Notre Dame: Gaas Herman, Carson-Newman.
CROSS COUNTRY
GPS: Tessie Braman, North Georgia; Gilly Shumate, Davidson.
FOOTBALL
Baylor: Jimmy Bryson, Georgia Tech; Ben Darnell, Samford; Joakim Dodson, Tennessee; Bradley Illunga-Bisselele, Buffalo; Philippe LaForge, Coastal Carolina; Joel Lowenberg, Wake Forest; Shekia Mills-Knight, Ole Miss; Cameron Sparks, Virginia Tech; C.J. Wyller, Tennessee Tech.
Boyd Buchanan: Ethan Lane, East Tennessee State; Hudson Wamack, Wofford.
Calhoun: Makadan Griffin, Shorter; Carlos Lopez, Clark-Atlanta; Aiden Veal, Sewanee; Emaree Winston, Texas.
Chattooga: Zayden Cook, Murray State.
Cleveland: Isaiah Davis, Furman.
East Hamilton: Curtis Drake, Tusculum; Andrew Gilbert, University of the Cumberlands.
Gordon Lee: Jonah Davenport, Shorter; Caden Oliver, Shorter.
Hixson: Ron Suttles, Tusculum.
Marion County: Myles Mays, UTC; Sam Pickett, Samford.
McCallie: Elliott Arnold, Colorado; Hunter Glasgow, Morehead State; Carson Lawrence, Vanderbilt; Etison Pholo, Southeast Louisiana; Eythan Serrano, Hampden-Sydney.
Notre Dame: E.J. Carter, Penn.
Red Bank: Markee Crutcher, Tusculum; Josiah Featherstone, Tusculum.
Ridgeland: Kain Brown, Shorter.
Ringgold: Bryce Hart, Western Carolina.
Sequatchie County: Sam Evitts, Maryville.
Silverdale Baptist: Landon Deitch, Maryville; Harris Jenne, Furman.
Soddy Daisy: Gannon Montgomery, Lindsey Wilson; Lake Renfro, Tusculum.
Trion: Logan Stokes, Shorter.
Tyner: Jaeden Isbell, Lindsey Wilson.
Whitwell: Bennett McDougal, Lindsey Wilson.
LACROSSE
Baylor: Gabe Hill, Washington College.
ROWING
Baylor: Bruin Webster, Stetson.
GPS: Eileen Nash, Tennessee.
SOCCER
GPS: Mary Wamack, Lee University.
Heritage: Emily Holcomb, Truett-McConnell; Zoie St. John, University of North Georgia.
SOFTBALL
Heritage: Faith Alsobrooks, Trevecca Nazarene; Ella Blansit, Cleveland State; Addie Edwards, Northeast Alabama; Bree Wilson, Northeast Alabama.
Gordon Lee: Gracie Helton, Pittsburgh; Tenslee Wilson, Lee.
SWIMMING
Baylor: Felix Vicknair, West Virginia.
GPS: Frances Bohner, Davidson; Adelaide Bond, Wheaton College; Millie Sharplin, Georgia Southern.
Heritage: Tyler Braly, Life University.
McCallie: Marvin Johnson, Florida.
Notre Dame: Joseph Myers, Berry College.
TRACK & FIELD
GPS: Mariah Ivery, Middle Tennessee.
VOLLEYBALL
Baylor: Jessy Blevins, UNC Asheville; Addi Kegerreis, Rollins College.
GPS: Cadence Nichols, UNC Asheville; Alaina West, Emmanuel University.
Heritage: Lexi Berry, Palm Beach Atlantic.