The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN the midst of his recruitment process, Michael Cartwright continues to receive accolades for a stellar senior season.

The senior offensive lineman for the Champagnat Lions was 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. This week, he also picked up another offer from the North Carolina Central University Eagles.

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.

He originally announced his commitment to join the Hoosiers last July but according to Cartwright, the second chance at recruitment gives 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, he received a new slate of eight offers from the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Kent State Golden Flash, UCF Golden 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.

Last season, the Lions won their second Class 2A FHSSA state title 24-7 over eight-time state champion Jacksonville University Christian.

Cartwright, a former student at Aquinas College, has also blossomed into a three-sport star for the Lions. On the basketball court he averaged 12.6 points and 15 rebounds per game and in athletics, and he became the school’s first multiple district champion in the shot put.

Cartwright was also a member of the Bahamas’ 2016 Caribbean Basketball Confederation Under-16 team that won gold in the British Virgin Islands.