I wanted to go somewhere that I could be coached and learn more about playing my position. – Darren Carrington II
SALT LAKE CITY — Darren Carrington Sr. was confused by the text from his son in early July.
“He texted me and said, ‘Dad, call Utah,'” Carrington Sr. said of his son, Darren Carrington II, who’d just been dismissed from Oregon’s football program after an arrest for DUI on July 1. “I was thinking it was so random.”
He knew his son had a couple of friends in the program, but he didn’t even know who to call. After emailing one of the players, he found his way to the Utes newly hired offensive coordinator Troy Taylor.
Despite the devastation of being dismissed from a program he’d wanted to play for since he was a freshman in high school, neither father or son felt hopeless about his options.
“I knew there was potentially a chance,” said Carrington Sr. “I was super thankful that because of his focus, and to me, it was amazing that he graduated in three and a half years. That afforded him the opportunity.”
His son said he was willing to go to an FCS school if he had to in order to play his senior season.
“I just kept faith and just kept working,” he said. “I knew there was an opportunity that would come and I wanted to take full advantage of it.”
Carrington II said he had interest from several other schools, but it all very quickly turned into a one-horse race when he and his father met Utah wide receivers coach Guy Holliday.
“Probably most of it,” he said, smiling, when asked if that was what clinched his decision to play for Utah, “All of it. Just how real he is and how well he knows receivers. I wanted to go somewhere that I could be coached and learn more about playing my position. So I thought he was the right man.” His father, who played in the NFL, said he wanted more than a great coach or another opportunity to play football.
“I wanted somebody who was going to invest in him beyond football,” the father of three said. “We met (Holliday) and the first time we met…we talked for 40-45 minutes and maybe we talked about football for five minutes. So that box was checked. I thought, ‘This is the guy who is going to be working with my son on a personal level. I feel good with him being under his leadership.’”
Holliday said one of the toughest aspects of the transfer was the way the story was portrayed in the media. Without knowing all the facts — or who Carrington is — people made sweeping judgments about whether or not he deserved another shot at playing college football.
“If I think back, if I listened to what the public would probably say about me, you know, I wouldn’t get to where I am,” he said. “I wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity. So I’m never going to turn my back on a young person.”
Carrington II said being tried in the court of public opinion, without being able to explain or defend himself was tough.
“It goes to the media and blows up and from then on it’s like there’s nothing an athlete or young person can do because it’s all off perceptions, even if it doesn’t happen, people think that.”
He said making the call to his dad after the arrest and dismissal was painful.
“(My dad) is definitely like my mentor, and he helps me become a better person because he takes me through the ropes and everything,” Carrington II said. “Just having him shows me how to keep pushing forward even if something happens. I’ve had little bumps in the road, and I just gotta keep going.”
Carrington Sr. said his son has always loved sports.
“One of the things I never wanted to do, I didn’t want to push it on him,” said Carrington Sr, a native New Yorker who played in the NFL for eight seasons and is now a pastor. “I let him play everything. And he loved to do everything — basketball, football, baseball, surfing, he even skateboarded. You name it, he did it.”
As he got older, his passion and talent for football were evident. But before his eighth-grade season, his father asked him to take a break.
“I told him to take a year off, rest your body,” he said. “And if you love it, then you’ll want to play your freshman year.”
He did.
In fact, when a relative received a scholarship to Oregon, he wrote his goal of playing for the Ducks on his bathroom mirror.
“He’s always been very goal-oriented,” Carrington Sr. said. “He was always very focused, very driven, very passionate. I asked him what he wanted, and he said, ‘I want to be the best.’” That’s when his dad decided to help him pursue his dream of collegiate and NFL careers.
But in teaching his son what he knew of the game and the politics that inevitably surround programs, he always had a broader purpose in mind.
“I wanted to teach him to be the best man,” he said. “As a believer in Christ, if he’s the best man of God, the best leader, then whatever he does, he’s going to be successful if he takes those skills with him. If he is blessed enough to play in the Sunday league, it’s going to end.”
Carrington Sr. never wanted his son to travel the road he did at Oregon, but he realizes that many journeys take unexpected detours before the traveler realizes his promise.
“No way I would have wanted this to be a chapter in my son’s life,” he said. “But the cool thing is that he has the opportunity to write the next chapter, and it could be the best of all of them.”
Carrington II said he’s found acceptance and purpose in a place he’d never even considered visiting, let alone living before transferring to Utah.
“Tim (Patrick, the former Ute receiver) gave me a little advice because we grew up together in San Diego,” he said. “I knew Troy Williams, and he told me it was cool up here. And then Coach Whit reached out to me fast.”
He said the difference between Utah and other places he’s played is the familial atmosphere.
“Just to see how everybody reacts to each other,” he said. “You’ve got the D-line hanging out with the receivers, and the O-line hanging out with the DBs; the quarterbacks are hanging out with everybody, so you know, it’s just cool to see the real brotherhood.”
Both father and son acknowledge that Utah extending an opportunity to Carrington II was a business deal that will expire at the end of the season.
“(Carrington II) has a great work ethic, which is something we pride ourselves on,” Holliday said. “He came in and he’s worked his tail off.”
In his first appearance for Utah, in its season-opening win over North Dakota, he was impressive, finishing with 10 receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown.
“There are a lot of good people who’ve been really successful after they got a second chance in life,” Holliday said, "and went onto have a positive influence on other lives, and I’m one of those guys. So if I think a person has a chance, I’m willing to help.”