Alabama Football: Can Nick Saban Land a Former Buckeye Receiver in T-Town?

Duron Carter, son of former NFL great Chris Carter (who is now an NFL analyst for HBO and other networks), is once again shopping around for a home and he plans on visiting Alabama this weekend.

"When we bring in a Jr. College player, we expect them to be able to contribute right away due to their limited time in the program," Saban said about bringing such players.

With Julio Jones having left early for the NFL, Alabama has a need for a big physical receiver and Carter is that type of receiver.

As a freshman with limited playing time, he had only five catches for 48 yards and was mixed between third and forth string. At Coffeyville, he had 44 catches for 10 touchdowns and 690 yards.

Why Carter is shopping himself around again is simple. He signed with the Buckeyes and played there for year, but had scholastic issues and took the second year to attend Coffeyville Community College in Kansas last year to get all the academic issues straightened out.

According to Duron, he just didn't take things seriously at Ohio State and was guilty of turning work in late, skipping classes and other foolish things that caught up with him. It was a sobering moment when Jim Tressel told him he was off the team.

He didn't take much seriously at Ohio State. In pregame drills he would try and showboat and catch passes with one hand just to show he could. He tried that in preseason drills at Coffeyville and his coach stopped practice to yell at him and tell him he'd better not ever see that again, you practice like you want to play.

"I messed up. It's my last chance," Carter said of his going to Coffeyville.

But he got serious and got his grades in order, now knows the seriousness of handling everything with both hands and keeping his eye not just on the ball, but what's important in his college life.

Now with everything in order once again, and walking the straight and narrow, his father Chris wanted to put him somewhere where they would make sure he wouldn't relapse into laziness.

According to Duron's famous father Chris, Alabama may have the inside track. They are looking for a program with both strong discipline and a current need.

Duron's father Chris told TiderInsider.com, "The head coach is as good as it gets. They have structure. Nick Saban provides the kind of environment you look for. There is no better teacher in the game than Nick and his staff.

"We like the fact that they run a pro style offense. They have a need at the receiver position. They don't have a [big, physical] receiver like Duron right now."

Alabama does have plenty of other options to fill that need and Carter couldn't report until fall.

That could put him a step behind the other players set to take Jones place, but he is confident he could come in and challenge for the job.

Only time will tell if he gets that chance.