Minnesota's Run Stuffer Strong safety Tyrone Carter is on track to set a record for tackles

Minnesota's tackling machine doesn't mind having to make more
saves than the Mayo Clinic. "I'm here to make plays--that's what
I do," says Tyrone Carter, an All-America strong safety who has
4.4 speed and is a leading candidate for the Jim Thorpe Award,
given annually to the nation's best defensive back. "Every play,
I ask my teammates, 'Who's going to beat me to the tackle?'"

Carter, 5'9", 184 pounds, has made 413 career tackles (including
a staggering 321 solo), the most by any active safety or
cornerback, according to statistics compiled by the Minnesota
sports information office. He needs 69 more to break the
Division I-A mark for defensive backs, set by Tulane's Mike
Staid from 1991 to '94. "I've never seen a secondary guy make as
many tackles as he does," Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez says.
Adds Badgers running back Ron Dayne: "He's like a fly, always
buzzing around you."

Generally coaches don't like their safeties making a lot of
tackles because it means that their linemen and linebackers
aren't doing their jobs, but Golden Gophers coach Glen Mason
isn't unhappy about the numbers accumulated by Carter, whom he
uses almost as a linebacker against run-oriented Big Ten
opponents. "We play to our strengths, and that's Tyrone," Mason
says. "We try to spill the ball toward him."

Carter is more than just a human stop sign, however. In his
first college start, against Syracuse in 1996, he set an NCAA
record by returning two fumbles for touchdowns. As a kick
returner a year ago he ran back the Gophers' home-season-opening
kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown against Arkansas State and
finished second in the Big Ten with an average of 26.7 yards per
return.

Carter had his choice of big-time schools when he came out of
Ely High in Pompano Beach, Fla., where his exploits as a running
back earned him the nickname Touchdown Tyrone. (He rushed for
1,349 yards and scored 23 touchdowns for the Tigers.) He wanted
to attend Florida, Florida State or Miami, but chose Minnesota
at the behest of his paternal grandmother, Mamie, who had been
impressed by the recruiting pitch of then Minnesota coach Jim
Wacker. She had raised Tyrone, along with 11 of her own
children, helping him steer clear of the drugs and crime that
infested the area where they lived. "She wanted me to experience
a different type of lifestyle," says Tyrone.

Mamie died in May 1997, but Tyrone hasn't forgotten her or his
roots. On his left biceps is a tattoo of her name, the date of
her death and a pair of hands clasped in prayer. He has pledged
$50,000 of any earnings that he might make in the NFL to help an
uncle build a church in Pompano Beach in her memory. "She taught
me to work hard, to stay out of trouble and to not let anybody
give you anything," Carter says. "I loved her, and I want to
honor her any way I can."

Carter would also like to do so by helping Minnesota earn its
first bowl berth since 1986, the longest postseason drought in
the Big Ten. He'd like to repeat as first-team All-America too,
a feat no Gophers player has accomplished since Bobby Bell in
'61 and '62. Supersized goals to be sure, but Carter, as Big Ten
rivals will attest, isn't afraid to tackle anything.

--Marty Burns

COLOR PHOTO: JUDY GRIESEDICK