As Carthon and former Gators receiver Willie Jackson chatted inside the team’s indoor practice facility, Carthon kept pointing in different directions. He recalled the gate to the old practice fields somewhere over that way and a few shade trees somewhere over there. Meanwhile, Carthon knew that the Heavener Football Training Center was where McKethan Stadium once stood.
“Got a chance to see the new facility just as they were laying the floors,” he said of a trip to town last summer so his oldest daughter could attend a class on campus. “My family got the hard-hat tour for that.”
Carthon signed with the Gators in 1999 out of Key West High, and after a redshirt season, he developed into a productive running back who rushed for 1,353 yards and 11 touchdowns and caught 56 passes for 511 yards over his career.
The 42-year-old Carthon spent a couple of seasons with the Colts as a player, but today he is known around the NFL as the new general manager of the Tennessee Titans. Carthon worked his way up the front-office ladder, starting as a scout for the Falcons, advancing his career in St. Louis, and then moving to the 49ers. He eventually became San Francisco’s director of player personnel, the job he held before the Titans hired him in January.
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“He did everything the coaches asked,” said Steve Spurrier, who coached Carthon for three seasons at UF. “You knew he would be successful at whatever he did in life. I’ll be pulling for the Titans.”
A career in the front office has intrigued Carthon since his days as a teenager. He would tag along with his father, former Super Bowl-winning Giants running back Maurice Carthon, to Pro Days during Maurice’s post-playing career.
“During that time — this time of year at Pro Days — and my dad was coaching in the NFL, I would be at Pro Days either clocking 40s for whoever the coach was, talking to the coach about our players, or watching film of players,” Carthon said. “I did that for about five years for whatever staff my dad was on.”
Carthon’s passion and talent evaluation skills caught the Titans’ attention, leading to one of his life’s more memorable weekends earlier this year. He interviewed for the Tennessee job on a Friday, flew back to California to attend San Francisco’s playoff game…
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