Carroll Family Hoping For A Notre Dame Football Offer

Notre Dame football recruit Quinn Carroll was spoon-fed football while growing up in Minneapolis as the fifth son of the football-crazed Carroll family.

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The future of Quinn Carroll is sky high. The 6’6, 290-pound sophomore’s 23 offers put him in 6th place for most offers in the 2019 class.

Judging by the rate of offers from juggernaut programs that have been rolling Carroll’s way, by the time I publish this article, he could have 24 offers or more. I wouldn’t doubt it.

If you scroll through his twitter, you’ll see pictures of him with his arm around Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and many of the big names of the college football world.

He recently picked up an Alabama offer to go along with other invitations from Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC and many more strong Power 5 college football programs.

Carroll plays right tackle at Edina Senior in Minneapolis, where he dominates defensive lineman every snap with his impressive physicality and technique that is clearly advanced for a high school sophomore.

On Sunday, Quinn, along with his brother Collin, made a trip to South Bend to tour the facilities of Notre Dame and to spend time and get familiar with heralded offensive line coach Harry Heistand, who likes to size up young recruits to get a thorough idea of their character and focus.

I spoke with Quinn’s father, Jay Carroll, to get my finger on the pulse of the football-oriented family from the gopher state. Jay Carroll gave me the full breakdown on his five football-crazy sons and two daughters that proceeded them.

“We have five boys. Quinn’s our fifth, then we have two girls, younger than Quinn,” explained Jay. “We kind of ran off all the boys then closed with a couple girls. All the boys played football and I had the pleasure of coaching all of them.”

Jay Carroll explained that Quinn gained his passion for football as a spectator while his four older brothers got their careers started.

“Quinn, being the fifth, tagged along to a lot of practices and played with his brothers in the backyard and saw probably a thousand football games himself before he started to play, so Quinn is the product of a football family,” stated Jay Carroll.

Jay’s oldest son had quite a career for the Hokies.

“Our oldest son played at Virginia Tech, Collin. He was the long snapper there. He had a really great career,” Jay Carroll mentioned.

“At that time, Virginia Tech was a top 10 – top 20 team every year and he went to three Orange Bowls and a Sugar Bowl and walked away with eight rings from a combination of ACC Championships and bowls. It was an embarrassment of riches for him,” Jay explained.

Quinn had the pleasure of being present while his brother competed on the biggest stage of college football which fueled his fire to build a career of his own.

“Quinn got to watch all of this go on as a young boy. He was at all these bowl games and other games, he saw all these rings and I think that started to plant seeds that someday, he wanted to do that,” Jay added. “I think that got his juices going.”

Jay’s sons aren’t all strictly football players. He informed me that one of his sons was successful from the mound as well.

“Our second son, Patrick, he played up to his junior year in high school in football, but he was a very good pitcher. He ended up playing college baseball at Augustana University,” explained Jay.

It was Jay’s third son who helped instill a focus of physicality in Quinn.

“Kevin, our third son, got a full ride at Northern Iowa, which is a nice program, more local to us. Kevin was a little undersized, 6’2, 290, probably 295, but from a standpoint of football talent, Kevin was an extremely aggressive, rugged, tough offensive lineman and intense,” Jay said with a chuckle.

“He taught Quinn the aggressive side that we see in Quinn, we think is a direct result from his older brother Kevin,” stated Jay. To this day, Kevin is always pushing and prodding Quinn.

“To this day, Kevin is always pushing and prodding Quinn on going through the whistle, on putting his guy to the ground, on never being intimidated. Kevin has helped instill a no-fear approach,” explained Jay Carroll.

I asked Jay what they’re hearing from the college coaches and recruiters who have been contacting them.

“The common theme is, he’s a big kid who has bend and who is aggressive,” said Jay. “He’s a combination of good size, can move and he’s mean on the field. Off the field, he’s a great kid and a sweetheart of a young man, but you put the helmet on and he turns it up a notch.”

Jay spoke to me about his one son who followed his lead and stayed in-state to enroll at the University of Minnesota.

“Preston, he’s a sophomore at Minnesota,” Jay stated. “He’s got a bright future, we think. He got to play with Quinn and he was one of the captains and leaders of the team when Quinn was in eighth-grade.”

Quinn developed a clear understanding of how to be a leader on the football field through watching how his older brother would go about his business as his teammate and captain at Edina Senior.

“That made a good impression on Quinn, his style of leadership. He encouraged others. Quinn now is a captain as a junior. We’re just so glad he got to see Preston at work as a leader of a team so he’s got something to really base that off of,” Jay expressed.

In conclusion of his story of his sons, it was clear that Quinn has added his various dynamics to his game through taking in the strengths of his older brothers.

“Quinn has had a lot of different influences. I’ve tried to chip away and I can fill in the blanks if the boys haven’t gotten to them. I just think he’s a product of being the fifth son of a football family and a kid who loves the sport,” Jay added.

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Next, Jay spoke to me about Quinn’s recruitment, which is a busy one, indeed.

“I will say that our hope and prayer for Quinn was that by the end of his junior year that he would’ve attracted some attention and have an opportunity or two going into his senior year. That was our dream for him,” Jay explained.

His prayers were answered, and then some.

“He posted his highlight video on Twitter. It absolutely has blown up beyond belief since the day he posted it. It just hasn’t stopped. It’s been a snowball that’s turned into an avalanche, of activity,” stated Jay.

Gone, are the days of tenth-graders only dreaming of getting offers. Nowadays, many have double-digit offer lists before they become upperclassmen.

As a result of the constant pursuit of his talent from college recruiters, Jay decided to put one of his sons in charge of Quinn’s recruitment.

“I delegated the whole recruitment responsibility to Collin because of his own personal experience and they have a great relationship. I think for a couple of months there, it was probably half his day, just managing the onslaught,” he explained.

“He’s extremely talented and organized and passionate and a good communicator so he was the perfect selection to manage Quinn’s recruitment,” mentioned Jay.

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Jay explained the thorough approach to Quinn’s recruitment that the family has together, agreed on.

“As this is happening, we’re building a criteria of what’s important to him, what is most critical, least critical, all these things, a database, if you will, of all of this information and one school at a time, we’re pulling it all together,” said Jay. “For now, we’re in the information gathering stage.”

Right now, the future is uncertain. That said, it’s going to be an active one and that’s a fact they’re learning to get used to.

“We’re so glad to have all of these opportunities and I’ll tell you, there are a number of additional schools chasing him,” added Carroll. “I don’t know when it’s going to stop. The beauty of being a sophomore is the contact is limited so it’s cumbersome for them to onslaught recruit them.”

I asked Jay if they have a specific timeline in place for when Quinn would like to make his decision.

“I can’t give you a date or a time, but our thinking is sometime his senior year, maybe during his senior year or just after. We’d like him to get his visits in,” he explained.

Quinn was on campus at Notre Dame for their Sophomore Day event. Jay spoke about how things went.

“I wasn’t on the visit but from the feedback from Collin and Quinn, they loved the campus,” said Jay. “He loved what he saw and he really thought highly of Harry (Heistand) and he got the most concerted time with him as well,” he explained.

Unfortunatley for Quinn, he left South Bend empty handed.

“They didn’t offer him, which wasn’t necessarily a disappointment. We understand what their process is and we understand that. What they told Quinn is that he checks a lot of boxes from a football standpoint but they want to get to know him,” said Jay.

“As good of a football player he is, he’s got a lot of room to grow. He’s just a good kid. As a parent, you’d like 20 of him. He’s well-liked and humble and works hard so I think they’re going to like what they find, the more they talk to other people about him,” explained Carroll.

The Carroll family are comfortable with bearing with Notre Dame’s lengthy-at-times process in evaluating the dynamic talent that Quinn Carroll is.

“There’s no hurry here. Teams need to take their time and do their due diligence,” said Jay Carroll. “Hopefully it turns out to be an offer because I know he will give them a good, hard look.”

Jay spoke to me about his personal connection with the Irish.

“My grandfather was born and raised in Ireland, my father was a consummate Irishman. He died young but when I was a kid, it was only Notre Dame. I grew up in Minnesota but I only watched Notre Dame,” explained Jay Carroll. ”

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“I watched Notre Dame way more than the University of Minnesota. Notre Dame, there’s a soft spot for me. My soft spot doesn’t matter, it’s about Quinn. I’m anxious for him to get the full look. I hope he gets the offer and he’ll consider it,” said Jay.

The Carroll family remain excited about Notre Dame and what they have to offer to their youngest son, Quinn.

“Hopefully, we’ll get back down there and they’ll give him a good long look and we’ll see what happens. It could happen.”

With Quinn Carroll combining all of the strong traits that he observed of his 4 older brothers, he has transformed into a dominant offensive tackle who will likely end up in the 40 offer-range. It’s impossible for me to imagine Notre Dame not being one of them.