Oct. 11, 2000

Berkeley, CA - ANDRE CARTER DIARY 10/11/00

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post a diary for a couple weeks. Usually I get together with Kevin Reneau of the media relations office to go over this stuff, but we've been missing each other until today.

School is crazy right now. I have a couple midterms in the next week and I've been trying to study as much as possible. It's intense. There's a lot of reading involved. I've been coming home from practice and reading as much as I can, sometimes to midnight.

It's harder to do that when your body is tired, but it has to be done.

On Monday and Tuesdays, I get back later to my house because I'm involved in the mentoring program with Professor (Herb) Simons. On those two days, we spend a couple hours with students from Berkeley High School who need tutoring. Usually, they are freshmen or sophomores who need some help in different parts of their life. We try to establish relationships with them and let them know the importance of getting their work done. Math is my speciality, so I enjoy helping in that area. It's a time commitment, but it makes you feel better as a person to know that you're helping someone else.

As I said, my schedule is pretty hectic. I'm also spending time once or twice a week with Mark Miller, who works with me on martial arts drills. We work on mostly hand movement and it's really made an impact on my performance. I've noticed a big difference on how I've been able to use my hands on offensive linemen.

With the workouts and studying, I haven't had much free time. But my girlfriend and I did take a break on Monday night and watched a movie. It was a tape of Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. That's a fun flick to watch. Also saw some of Varsity Blues, another interesting movie.

These are tough times for our team. I really wanted to beat Arizona State, especially for Coach Setencich, since he used to coach there. Plus, I haven't had many productive games against Arizona State, so it was good to play well down there in my final game against them. I was quite pleased with my performance as I got a few sacks and a bunch of pressures. I made two or three minor mistakes, but overall, I thank God for the way I was able to perform.

I did come out for the first time this season. I missed two plays. It was late in the game and I had a big cut on my elbow and Coach Dutton told me that I had to get it fixed up. I was just shocked he said that. This is same crazy coach that usually tells us to rub some dirt on any injury and get back in there. I got it bandaged up and they wanted me to sit out the final few minutes, but Arizona State was driving in our territory and I didn't want them to score again, so I went back out there.

I don't really worry about injuries when the game is either won or lost. It's just not in my mind. When you start worrying about that and not playing hard, that's when you get hurt.

Our team's back is further up against the wall. We have to keep fighting and earn some respect. We have six games left and it's important we win all six. I've been impressed with the way the team is still working hard. The intensity level is still high in practice and in games. We haven't cashed in the chips. We just need a breakthrough. We can't keep making mistakes, because when you add them all up in ends up being a loss.

UCLA looks strong. Their running backs have great speed both outside and inside and their receivers are very tall. They'll be coming to our house all pumped up after we went down there last year and shut them out. They'll be ready for a fight.