Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

5/6/2011 at 9:30am

Image by UCA Sports Information

Markell Carter, who played defensive end for Central Arkansas, was drafted by New England in the sixth round of the NFL Draft.

Former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett won't be the only rookie with Arkansas ties to join the New England Patriots if and when the lockout is ends. Markell Carter, an Oklahoma product who played defensive end for Clint Conque and the Central Arkansas Bears will also suit up in Beantown.

Conque is happy with his former player. In a released statement, the Bears head football coach said, "He’s a four-year guy who came in and contributed as a freshman and continued to get better throughout his career. The last two years, he really reached his full potential at the collegiate level.

“Markell is on track to graduate, and that’s probably the one thing I’m most proud of with him. He grinded through the second semester here with one eye on his pro possibilities and still got his work done. He’s just a classy young man and I’m happy for his family."

Carter was picked in the sixth-round of the 2011 NFL Draft, the 194th pick of the draft. Carter seems to have been tapped due to his impressive workouts since December, his knowledge of the playbook and his willingness to switch from DE to outside linebacker. He told New England media in a conference call about his ability to make the change:

It was something I started working on the week after the season ended – all of the stuff that I was kind of uncomfortable with at the beginning. That’s pretty much worked out. I worked on it for the past two and a half or three months really hard – two to three times a day, so just the repetition of working on my drops and getting into the film room and watching film of some of the good guys actually doing it and things like that and just trying to adapt my game to the way that they kind of do things.

I think I’ll be able to pick it up really easy just because I plan on going in there and working really, really hard. I feel like hard work and determination will pretty much get you anywhere you need to be in life. I’m just going to go in there with that attitude and an open-minded attitude, ready to take coaching and ready to learn and get better.

Change is apparently something Carter can adapt to - the pride of Bartlesville High originally had hopes of being an offensive player before going to UCA's defense:

I’m a pretty bright kid to where picking up schemes and things like that wouldn’t be that hard on me especially with the time I’ll be able to devote to football and the time I’ll be able to devote to learning this position. I mean I came into UCA as a receiver so I had to learn how to play defensive end so learning a new football position and just learning the little things that come with those positions, I don’t think that’s going to be too big of a challenge.

Finally, the big question: What number will Carter wear on his jersey? At UCA, he was No. 8, but NFL players in his position aren't allowed to wear single digits. (Ryan Mallett, on the other hand, should have no problem ripping No. 15 away from two reserve players, if he wants it.)

Here's some highlight footage of Carter at work during his UCA years.

Tagged: Ryan Mallett, Markell Carter, UCA Bears, New England Patriots, 2011 NFL Draft