Chance Carter, Northwestern Wildcats football, No. 99

It's that time of year again! We're under 100 days until football season, and that means each day we'll be profiling a Northwestern player as we get closer towards, you know, football!

Are many of these going to be pointless descriptions of players who won't have an effect on Northwestern? Perhaps. Will I put jokes in all of them? Probably. If you don't like the jokes, that's my fault, but this is more an exercise in passing away the long summer than it is one in relevance, and if you don't like exercises in passing away the long summer, go elsewhere, ya big dummie!

Today, we have Chance Carter, a 6'3, 270-pound defensive tackle playing in his backyard. Get to know him better!

Origin myth

Carter is a native Evanstonian - Evanstoner? Evan Stoner? Sup Evan - and went to Loyola Academy. He is proof that Northwestern is EVANSTON'S BIG TEN TEAM, so, Evanstoners, come to games, because dammit you shut down the Keg you selfish jerks. (Note to Jim Phillips: use "dammit you shut down the Keg you selfish jerks" as a marketing slogan to draw local fans.) Considered a defensive end, he was ranked the No. 18 player in Illinois by Rivals and had offers from Nebraska and Indiana alongside NU. He'd bulk up and move to the inside of the line - he was 235 pounds in high school, and is now 270, per his player page.

At Northwestern

Carter redshirted and only saw modest snaps as a redshirt freshman, but appeared in all 13 games last year as a spell defensive tackle, recording 15 tackles.

Career highlight

A TFL against Minnesota, wrapping up running back Rodrick Williams for a loss of two to bring up third-and-11. Two plays later, Minnesota would fake a punt that would come up short.

Anagram of choice

Discovering the true inner selves of the Wildcats through respelling their names

Chance Carter, anagrammed is:

THE CANCER CAR

Woah, this got off to an extraordinarily morose start.

(Rejected options: "Archer Accent" (h/t H. Jon Benjamin), "cheer Narc Cat!")

Relevant musical selections

"So Good", Chance the Rapper

He's weird. He's talented, playful, and clever. And most importantly, he's Chi! Why don't you listen to Acid Rap at least once a week/day?

"Mr. Carter", Lil Wayne ft. Jay-Z

I always really liked this song, despite the fact that you can somewhat track the descent of Wayne's lines into trash and the fact that Jay-Z appears to think there's something called a "Molotail Cocktail." I think it's because I appreciate Jay picking up Wayne's flow, in a Biggie-on-"Notorious Thugs" style. It's a weird moment in time: Wayne trying to tell everybody he's the best rapper alive, Jay-Z showing respect by giving him a verse, and a few years before these guys recorded diss tracks about each other.

Real name

"Chancellor Carter I", which, as if "Chance Carter" wasn't good enough, THE CHANCELLOR.

Number notables

COREY WOOTTON, DESTROYER OF WORLDS:

Also enjoy Woot scoring a touchdown for the Bears.

Corey was such a monster. I remember standing behind him in line at BK as a freshman and thinking "oh, THAT'S what football players look like." Unfortunately he had a knee injury in the Alamo Bowl -- a game where he was everywhere at the same time -- that slowed his production in what should've been a monstrous senior year, but that one play at Iowa shifted the perception of an entire season, even if it did unfortunately come at the expense of Mr. Stanzi's health.

How can he help?

As a defensive tackle with experience at defensive end, Carter's a little bit more athletic than your typical defensive tackle something that's shown in his playing time and to my eye in the spring practice. He brings a little bit of a pass-rusher's vibe to a spot where you want a run-stopper. And he hasn't seemed overmatched when it comes to plugging the gap in limited snaps.

Depth chart projection

We have Carter slated as a backup defensive tackle, although there's no reason he can't compete with a slightly more experienced Will Hampton for a starting spot opposite Sean McEvilly. Considering freshman Greg Kuhar is the fourth player in the mix, Carter should be the most commonly used backup if he can't win a starting spot.