Photo credit: NCAA.org
By: Ana Kieu
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Unlike most other running backs coaches, San Jose State’s Alonzo Carter took an unconventional path to the coaching world.
Carter, a 2016 Cal State East Bay graduate, is surprisingly not in his late 20s or early 30s. The 49-year-old will turn 50 on November 25th.
Anywho, Carter was born and raised in Oakland, Calif., and is a big fan of Oakland-based rapper MC Hammer, who discovered his tremendous dance abilities and took him in as a backup dancer. Yes, a backup dancer!
After his dancing years, Carter worked at Contra Costa County College for seven seasons–transforming a hapless Comets program into an unexpected winner. Carter landed a job as a running backs coach at San Jose State University in January 2017.
Following a dismal 2-11 (1-7 Mountain West) season, Carter is one of the many Spartan coaches who are on the hot seat when it comes to their coaching gigs. Although it’s too early to tell who’s going to stay or go, it’s still the offseason and I’m one of the countless media members who have questions for the current coaching staff.
With that being said, let’s catch up with Carter, who will be entering his second season as a Spartan running backs coach this coming August.
1. What has prevented the Spartan offense from reaching its full potential for No. 1?
We’re coming into this season with high expectations and we have a new offensive coordinator, Kevin McGiven, and he’s bringing a new offense that everyone’s excited about. So it’s obviously going to be a learning curve, but they’re all excited about the idea and what the offense has to offer.
The biggest challenge would be obviously we’re young–we graduated three starters on our offensive line, two of those three young men are currently on an NFL roster. Whenever you lose quality players like that, you’ll also lose quality leadership, and that’s a challenge. But we’re excited about the young talent–we’re excited about Jack Snyder and Troy Kowalski–both returning as starters on the offensive line, so we’re excited about them.
And then, obviously, the biggest question mark in the room is figuring out who the quarterback is going to be. Right now, it’s a wide-open competition, and we expect big things from whoever wins that job…All those guys are having a good offseason, running the offense, and trying to be the starting quarterback.
And, as far as the running backs, it’s about who has the depth and experience and obviously makes the new quarterback–whoever it’ll be–adjust with the transition. So we’re excited about that whole idea…Tyler Nevens is our starting running back, Malik Roberson was a starter before, and we got Brandon Monroe, who got a medical redshirt so he’s returning, and DeJon Packer, who’s strong for a walk-on running back. He (Packer) is on a scholarship as well. Pretty good, stable running backs who should be able to help.
And then, obviously, the super talented Josh Oliver at tight end. Probably one of the best tight ends in the Mountain West Conference. Probably one of the best in the West Coast. A lot of leadership. He’s a senior, and we have some good talent at wide receiver as well. We have some good experience at wide receiver in Tre Hartley and Justin Holmes.
The offense will have some chances to do some things. It’s just a matter of the coaching staff aligning it and working vigorously to make sure that they can get the offense going…We’re excited to see what happens.
2. As a running backs coach, how are you going to gear up for Year 2?
Last year was my first year on the offense, and first year on the college level on the offensive side of the ball…Going into this year, they kind of know who I am now, and they understand my motto, which is “play fast and physical.” That’s my motto…We do a lost of things different that I think will benefit us…Now, we have an experienced offensive coordinator (Kevin McGiven) that brings our team to the table…So we’re trying to make that our motto, and as a running backs coach, it’s my job to manage everyone–the group, the personalities, and at the same time, make it as fun and competitive as possible.
3. Is the Spartan offense showing life so far this offseason?
It’s doing great. Coach (Kevin) McGiven has brought a new offense, which he describes as a “scoring offense,” and we just brought a different life and a different energy to the table that everyone’s excited about. So far this offseason, it’s been real good–the players are totally all in to everyone. It’s been a good offseason so far, and we’ll make sure that they’re ready to go.
4. What can your running backs do to prove that they’re consistent for the ever changing NCAA?
The biggest thing for the running backs group is that they want to play fast and get faster, bigger and stronger in the weight room…
And, as far as the group challenging each other, we got some real good senior leadership in the room. So they’re constantly testing each other and pushing each other to see who’s the best on and off the field.
As a group, we had multiple Honor Roll students, so we just kind of push each other to be the best that we could be on and off the field.
The biggest thing that we always try is to make that a high standard. We want that group to be able to bring something different than just football and I think another big thing is that we can be competitors in the classroom and in the weight room and all the rooms–to show everybody else on the team so they can follow our lead and everyone gets along with everyone and has a good time being around each other. Just create this great family environment where everybody just respects each other and pushes each other to the max.
5. The Spartan offense is seemingly vanishing at times. How are you going to make sure your offensive weapons are going to stay at the top of their game?
We were new, the coaching staff was new, we inherited a football team and we tried to build a new offense last year. That was brand-new for them.
We had a quarterback (Montel Aaron) who had some major injuries and kind of broke down some of the things we’d like to do, but we have enough leadership on the offense to get better because that was our biggest pet peeve. We just felt like we needed to get better in different areas…I think he brought fresh abilities to the group and brought in a breath of different air…I think he’ll make us even better than what we were because we want to show progress…I think that Year 2 should bring some stability to the (football) program and some life so that people will get excited about what we’re trying to do…
The No. 1 particular thing in general–I just think me, coach (Brent) Brennan and the others need to stay together as a family who pushes each other through the good times and the bad times and utilizing a new system and getting more mature as a group. We need to retain some key people and stay healthy.
On our o-line and d-line, we lost some key people last year…If we get up and do what we need to go, I think we’ll have a good year.
Ana covers San Jose State sports for SportsRadioService.com.
