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The Tuscaloosa News
What could Michael Carroll 'turn into' with Alabama football? 'An absolute savage'
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- What could Michael Carroll 'turn into' with Alabama football? 'An absolute savage'
Kalen DeBoer didn't want to single out Alabama football freshman offensive lineman Michael Carroll .
Yes, DeBoer said, the 6-foot-6, 315-pound guard was "versatile" in his first spring with the Crimson Tide when Carroll spent many practices outside at tackle to assuage the lack of Kadyn Proctor , who was limited due to injury. But DeBoer said there is a learning curve for any freshman, especially those on the offensive line.
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"Michael made steps you'd really hope a player would make throughout the spring, much like many of our guys did," DeBoer said.
DeBoer didn't want to heap further expectations on a player like Carroll, who arrived with a five-star title next to his name and has already generated ample buzz in his short time in Tuscaloosa.
Mike Moosbrugger is not DeBoer.
On April 24, within seconds of Alabama guard Tyler Booker becoming a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys , Moosbrugger, who coached Carroll at Central Bucks East High School in Pennsylvania and played offensive line at Wake Forest, sent the Crimson Tide freshman a text.
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"'Three years from now,'" Moosbrugger said, "'that's going to be you.'"
Moosbrugger said it took him all of 30 seconds for him to be sold on Carroll initially, looking at a raw, two-star recruit with a handful of offers looking to transfer to Central Bucks East and "salivating" about what he could do with a player like that. Carroll was a quick learner, one who would pick up high-level techniques instantly, who Moosbrugger said could have made "the practice squad on NFL teams" in high school.
Carroll was different, something Moosbrugger saw right away.
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"I'm going to laugh when people ask, 'Did you ever think?'" Moosbrugger told the Tuscaloosa News. "Yeah, I knew it from the day I met him."
The 'man on the mission' becomes Michael Carroll
Mike Carroll didn't have the college football options his son had.
Carroll played at Penn State, but admits now he "probably should have gone somewhere smaller to get more playing time." But he always knew his son was going to surpass him.
Michael Carroll was initially a lacrosse player, a face-off specialist who could keep up with the opponent's fastest and most-skilled players. One year of wrestling turned him into a finisher, one who developed his tenacity and aggression on the mat.
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"I think he always approached it as a 'man on a mission,' if you will," Mike Carroll said. "He had bought his own weight set with the money he had saved up, just started lifting weights at seventh, eighth grade. (He) just knew he wanted to make something of himself."
Moosbrugger remembers that exact moment when the "man on a mission" became the man who caught Alabama football 's attention.
Offensive lineman Michael Carroll (#64) during practice on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024 on IMG Academy Football Media Day in Bradenton, Florida.
In a rivalry game against Central Bucks West, Central Bucks East needed momentum. The team had just finished an offensive drive, and Michael Carroll was taking the field to play defensive line. Moosbrugger got in his face. While he doesn't remember the exact words he used, he remembers the message.
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'"Look, you're going to be an All-American,'" Moosbrugger said. "'Act like it.'"
On the very next play, Michael Carroll took one hand and threw the Central Bucks West tackle 4 yards into the backfield. He sacked the quarterback and ran halfway to the opposing sideline, pumping his chest.
It was the moment Michael Carroll, the hilarious, wonderful kid, Moosbrugger said, found his confidence, found that he belonged. It was the moment he turned into an "absolute savage."
"It was just that moment, that was (Michael)," Moosbrugger said.
Why Alabama football was always the goal for Michael Carroll
It always made sense to Mike Carroll that his son was always fascinated with Alabama.
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"He was born the same year (Nick) Saban took the job," Carroll said. "So every holiday season, at the end of the season, he's watching Alabama play in a national championship or the top tier of the playoffs."
Early in the recruiting process, Moosbrugger talks with each of his offensive linemen to find out their "dream school," the offer to aim for. While Moosbrugger admits some players have to recalibrate their picks and become more realistic, he didn't have to do that with Michael Carroll.
"When (Michael) said Alabama, I said, 'OK,'" Moosbrugger said.
Michael Carroll's conversations with Alabama started in his junior season at Central Bucks East with then-Crimson Tide offensive line coach Eric Wolford. But before this Alabama staff had a chance to offer, Saban announced his retirement and Wolford moved to Kentucky.
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But Carroll's connection to Alabama was only about to get stronger.
More: 2026 5-star WR Cederian Morgan is at top of Alabama football list. Is Crimson Tide at top of his?
The Crimson Tide hired Chris Kapilovic, the former Michigan State offensive line coach who extended an early offer to Carroll, maintained a relationship and told him "wherever he goes, that he would have a spot for him on the roster," Michael Carroll's father said.
"He's very easy to talk to," Mike Carroll said of Kapilovic. "He's relatable. I believe he knows his Xs and Os. I mean, first and foremost, he was a teacher before he was a coach. Being able to teach kids or teach players, … not all of them learn the same way. And I think you can just tell he really had our son's best interest at heart."
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Michael Carroll committed to Alabama during his June official visit, picking the Crimson Tide over Georgia, Michigan and Penn State and joining a class that would eventually include California four-star tackle Jackson Lloyd, Alabama four-star tackle Micah DeBose and Alabama four-star guard Mal Waldrep.
Kapilovic, Moosbrugger said, was the "tipping point" for Michael Carroll and Alabama, who hired an offensive line coach who "knows exactly how to get the best out of (him)."
"I knew Kap would take care of my guy," Moosbrugger said. "And he has, and has continued to do so."
What could Michael Carroll 'turn into' with Alabama football?
Mike Carroll knows what his son can do, and he's not shy about it.
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Ohio State never offered Michael Carroll, even after a game day visit when the Buckeyes faced Michigan State, and even after a two-hour conversation with then-offensive line coach Justin Frye.
When then-Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles came to follow up, Mike Carroll didn't hide his feelings toward the Buckeyes.
I go, 'Listen: 'Tell Frye he must like short, fat, slow, weak kids, because my kid is better than every one that he's offered,'" Carroll said.
It's why Moosbrugger felt Michael Carroll, the Alabama commit, had to go to IMG Academy for his final season: to go somewhere where "he had to really try," to compete against the type of athletes he would eventually see in the SEC.
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"If he had stayed up here, legitimately, we would have had multiple ambulances and traumatic injuries in every game," Moosbrugger said.
From afar at IMG and at Alabama, Moosbrugger sees the Michael Carroll who belongs, the Carroll who believes he is one of the top dogs.
That's why Moosbrugger sent him that text after Booker was selected. It's why he says what DeBoer can't.
Whenever Moosbrugger watches Michael Carroll reps from Alabama spring practices, Moosbrugger said he beams with pride.
"That's the guy I knew," Moosbrugger said. "I knew he was going to turn into that."
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Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What could Michael Carroll 'turn into' with Alabama football?
