Sam Carter is in his second season at Purdue, joining Ryan Walters’ staff in 2023 and serving as the cornerbacks coach.
Carter’s first season guided a few Boilermakers who were also in their first season at Purdue. Transfer Marquis Wilson broke up six passes through the first five games, leading the Big Ten at that point of the year, before suffering a season-ending injury. Markevious Brown forced a team-high two fumbles in his first season for the Old Gold and Black, while Botros Alisandro picked off a pass and led the nation in special teams solo tackles. Finding his way into the rotation, Derrick Rodgers Jr. broke up three passes throughout the season to crack the Top 10 all-time by Purdue freshmen.
In his lone season with Ole Miss, Carter mentored cornerback Deantre Prince, who led the team with 11 pass breakups to go along with one interception. Carter also coached Miles Battle as a cornerback after he began his Ole Miss career as a wide receiver.
In his two years in Fayetteville, Arkansas’ secondary quickly displayed its prowess as a talented ballhawking group. The Razorbacks tallied 26 total interceptions since 2020, the second most in the SEC behind only Alabama. Carter helped lead Arkansas to a record of 9-4 in 2021, the program’s best mark since 2011.
Cornerback Montaric Brown led the SEC and ranked fourth in FBS with five interceptions throughout the 2021 season. Under Carter’s guidance, Brown became the first Razorback defender with five interceptions in a year since 2011 (Tramain Thomas).
In 2020, Arkansas’ 13 interceptions during the season were second most in the SEC and 13th most in FBS. The Razorback defensive backfield featured the nation’s only freshman duo to record multiple interceptions in Hudson Clark (3) and Jalen Catalon (3).
Carter joined the Razorbacks from Missouri, where he served as a defensive quality control and analyst for Barry Odom alongside Purdue head coach Ryan Walters. Carter helped the Tigers’ defense rank as one of the best in the nation, particularly in the secondary, in 2019. Missouri’s pass defense ranked sixth in the FBS and second in the Southeastern Conference, allowing only 179.3 yards per game.
The Tigers were even tougher with the ball in the air, leading the nation by allowing opponents to complete just 50.3 percent of passes for 2,151 yards – seventh fewest in FBS.
Mizzou had four players inside the SEC’s Top 25 of passes defended, including three defensive backs in Joshuah Bledsoe, Khalil Oliver and Tyree Gillespie.
Carter was a standout, All-Big 12 safety at TCU prior to starting his coaching career. The New Orleans native played in 49 games for the Horned Frogs from 2011-14, starting 39 including all 38 over his final three years. As a senior, he was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, a Senior CLASS Award finalist and a Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American.