The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Michael Cartwright made it official with the North Carolina Central Eagles on National Signing Day.

The senior offensive lineman signed his National Letter of Intent at the Champagnat High School campus yesterday in Hialeah, Florida, after he announced his commitment to the programme just over a week ago.

Cartwright was one of eight members of the Champagnat football team to sign with various programmes yesterday.

He will be a member of the first recruiting class for new Eagles head coach Trei Oliver. Oliver was announced as NCCU’s 24th head football coach last December. In 2018, the Eagles finished 5-6 overall, 3-4 in the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference.

Cartwright becomes the second Bahamian player to matriculate from the Bahamas to Champagnat, to NCCU. Jamal Symotte was a member of the Eagles programme from 2012-2016. In his senior season, he was named a member of the All-Academic Team and All-MEAC Second Team after posting the team’s second-highest grade of 89 per cent on blocking assignments with 27 pancake blocks.

Prior to his announcement, Cartwright was recently named to the Miami Herald’s All-Dade Class 5A Independent Football First Team.

The 6’6” 293 pound offensive lineman recorded 65 pancake blocks on the season, most among any lineman selected to the first team.

Champagnat finished as runners-up after a 28-20 loss to the North Florida Christian Eagles in the Florida High School Athletic Association State Championships Class 2A State Championship game.

The Lions concluded the season with four consecutive wins to earn a trip to the state title game.

Prior to the season, Cartwright re-entered the recruitment cycle when he de-committed from the University of Indiana Hoosiers in December.

He originally announced his commitment to join the Hoosiers last July but, according to Cartwright, the second chance at recruitment gave him an opportunity to “re-evaluate everything and to make the best decision for me as a person, player and most importantly a student.”

In the month of May alone, Cartwright received eight offers from the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Kent State Golden Flash, UCF Knights, UAB Blazers, Georgia State Panthers, Temple Owls, UMass Minutemen and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

He previously received offers from the Tulane Green Wave, FIU Golden Panthers, Indiana Hoosiers, Marshall Thundering Herd, FAU Owls, Southern Mississippi Eagles, Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions and the Pittsburgh Panthers.