Blake Carroll’s breakthrough season at Georgia State began in 2020 with an attitude adjustment.
Carroll always has been a hard worker, but when his mental approach to the game changed, so did the results, and the linebacker from Lawrenceville wound up leading the team in tackles and eventually earning a spot on the All-Sun Belt Conference team.
“He always used to come into the facility with this grumpy ol’ look on his face,” Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott said. “Now it’s a big smile and a big ol’ handshake.”
Carroll acknowledged his growth on the field began with his increased maturity.
“I’ve always had a love for the game,” Carroll said. “I realized you can’t play football forever. I have an opportunity to play to the best of my ability and do the best I can.”
Carroll, who graduated from Mountain View High School, was good enough to play in every game as a freshman and in nine games as a sophomore, mostly on special teams and in a backup role.
He got the chance to start as a junior and had a breakout season when paired at inside linebacker alongside Trajan Stephens-McQueen. In 10 games, Carroll compiled 74 tackles – he averaged 5.2 solo stops per game, third best in the Sun Belt – as well as 5.5 tackles for loss and one sack.
Carroll recovered two fumbles, and both were important. He returned the first one for a 74-yard touchdown against Arkansas State, the second-longest defensive score in the program’s history. The other came in the final two minutes against Georgia Southern and helped the Panthers hang on to beat their biggest rival.
The touchdown also caused Carroll to recall the times when he played a little running back in high school.
“It felt like back in the day,” he said. “I feel like I know what to do with the ball. I’ve joked with coach Elliott, ‘C’mon, can I have at least one carry a game?’ But he always shuts it down.
“I’m OK playing linebacker. I love it as much as liked playing running back.”
Carroll had time to decompress before preseason camp opened. He visited family in North Carolina that he hadn’t seen for years. He was able to work out with some of his cousins who also are playing college ball. Now the emphasis has shifted back to business.
“I’m focused on getting better,” he said. “I felt like I lacked that last year. I missed a couple tackles I should have made, left a lot of plays on the field. I’m just focused, dialed in.”
Carroll was a big part of the Georgia State defense that allowed only 136.7 yards rushing, the second-best in school history, with a school-record average of 3.86 yards per carry. Georgia State also set a school record with 35 sacks and had 21 takeaways, thanks to an aggressive approach that he wants to carry over into 2021.
“We want to score on defense,” Carroll said. “We want to score every game. And we want to be a shutdown defense, not only in the Sun Belt, but against everybody we play.”
He’s particularly looking forward to the first four games, the non-conference portion of the schedule that includes Army, North Carolina, Charlotte and Auburn.
“I’ve very excited about the schedule,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the challenges, looking forward to the big games and the upsets. We’re focused. This may be the best Georgia State team I’ve been a part of.”
The season starts at noon Sept. 4 against Army at Center Parc Stadium. Carroll was on the team that outslugged the Cadets 28-21 in 2019. Army ran the ball 61 times for 278 yards on that rainy night, and Carroll expects the same sort of contest.
“They’re going to run the ball, and we know we’ve got to be more physical than normal, a lot more physical,” he said.
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