Devon Carrington, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound three-star safety from Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., finished his junior season with 77 tackles, three sacks, three fumbles recovered and two interceptions.
“I’m a rangy safety,” Carrington said. “I like to come up and make a play. I like to cover and am always around the ball. I’m very aggressive and love to him. I like contact a lot.”
He says he can bench 240-pounds, squat 315 and has a 32-inch vertical jump.
“I’m always trying to improve,” Carrington said. “There’s nothing major that I need to work on but I’m definitely working on my cover skills and want to get stronger.”
Carrington, Scout.com’s No. 23 safety nationwide, still has offers from California, Stanford, Notre Dame, Arizona State and Arizona and says those are his top five. He continues to deny a leader.
“I’m still really open because I haven’t really been to most of these schools,” he said.
The Sun Devils are only 15 minutes from Carrington’s house and he plans on attending their April 4 junior day. “Location isn’t a factor,” he stated. “But since they are the local team I’ve been watching them a lot.
“I like how when coach Dennis Erickson came in he really brought them back,” Carrington said. “I know they didn’t do well last season, but I think they’ll bounce back again.”
Arizona State’s major rival, Arizona, is about one and half hours from Carrington’s house. “I really like how their defense really flies to the ball,” he said. “The defense has improved a lot and they had a great season last year.”
Carrington says his first scholarship offer was from Stanford in November. “Stanford is known for their academics and that’s really important to me,” he said.
“I also really like coach Jim Harbaugh,” Carrington said. “He’s a players’ coach and have things going well there. The team is gonna be doing big things.”
Another thing going for the Cardinal is that Carrington’s former teammate, (wide receiver) Drew Terrell, signed with Stanford in February. “He really loves the campus,” he said. “He’s happy with his decision so far and can’t wait to get on the field for them. It would be cool to play together again.”
The only camp that Carrington already has scheduled is the Nike Camp at USC on April 19, but he says he’ll try and visit several schools during the summer.
One of the schools he’d like to visit is California. “I know they have great academics too,” he said. “They are always a top team and do well every year.”
Carrington’s most recent offer came as a bit of surprise. “Notre Dame offered me during spring break about two weeks ago,” he said. “I got an email from them and then my coach told me to give them a call.
“I talked to coach Charlie Weis and he made me an offer,” he said. “I haven’t gotten it in the mail yet, but coach Weis said it’s coming.”
“I love their tradition,” he said. “They have great academics and they told me that they are going to need safeties, so I’d probably have a good chance to play early.
“I know South Bend gets a lot colder than Arizona, but I think I could get used to it,” he said.
Growing up, Carrington says he followed North Carolina. “I was born in Raleigh and I’ve always loved the Tar Heels,” he said.
Carrington says he’d like to commit during his senior season. “But I definitely plan on taking a couple official visits first,” he said. “I want to go where I’ll get a chance to play early and go to a good academic school.”
He says he wants to major in business management and reports a 3.8 core GPA and is taking the ACT on June 6.