Carson Strong – VACAVILLE INSIDER

Fatherhood before football

Holding his daughter in his arms means more to Carson Strong than gripping a football with his right hand. The 2018 Will C. Wood High graduate’s football career will only last so long, even if he makes it to the NFL one day, but he will Zephyr’s father forever.

Zephyr was in her father’s arms April 30 after Strong threw his first USFL touchdown pass for the Michigan Panthers in a 28-13 loss to the New Jersey Generals. His daughter will not remember the special moment, but Strong will never forget it despite the loss.

**Carson Strong holds Zephyr on the field in Detroit on April 30.**

“It was her first game and my first touchdown,” said Strong, who had Zephyr and his girlfriend Isabella Cibulsky staying with him in Detroit at the time. “It was great to see here and I got her down on the field. There are things more important than football.”

His life will no longer be defined by his success in football. Strong has enjoyed more than his fair share, becoming the first University of Nevada player to be named Offensive Player of the Year in the Mountain West Conference in 2020. The quarterback appreciated the award so much that he won it again in 2021.

Strong’s three seasons of directing the Wolf Pack offense were nothing short of sensational. He passed for 9,368 yards and 74 touchdowns – 4,135 of those yards and 36 of those touchdowns came in 2021. Those numbers prompted the junior to forgo his final year of eligibility at Nevada and declare for the NFL Draft. He had every reason to believe he would be picked with some folks predicting as early as the second round.

Seven rounds came and went without his name being called. That a quarterback was the 262nd and last player selected – Brock Purdy by the 49ers – only added insult to Strong’s injury. And it was likely an injury that convinced NFL teams to pass on Strong.

His right knee is the cause for concern. Strong did not play football or basketball as a senior at Wood after having surgery to repair damaged bone and cartilage in his knee. Nevada honored its commitment to Strong after being the only Division I program to offer him a scholarship, but the large brace he wore on his right knee was not for show.

Strong did not do himself any favors at the 2002 NFL Combine by deciding not to run the 40-yard dash, do any agility drills or lift weights. He feared his knee would not take that much pounding with NFL coaches and general managers evaluating his every move. It did not matter because Strong “got a poor medical grade from most every team.”

The Eagles gambled on Strong by signing him after the draft with a guarantee of $320,000. Strong threw just four passes in four preseason games, however, but at least he could say he earned $80,000 per attempt. The Cardinals signed Strong to their practice squad in December only to send him packing after a week when he failed a physical.

Playing in the XFL would have been an option if not for his guaranteed contract with the Eagles. Strong would have had to repay the Eagles for every dollar he earned in the XFL, so he would have essentially been risking his knee for nothing. The NFL kicked off its new league year on March 15, so Strong no longer has to repay the Eagles.

His USFL contract runs through 2024, but another season of playing behind San Jose State product Josh Love will not do Strong any good. He needs to play in order to prove his knee is safe and sound. Nothing is wrong with his right arm, which he showed off April 27-29 at the 2023 NFL Combine by throwing passes to prospects in assorted drills.

Strong’s volunteer work caught the eye of the Commanders, who invited him for a workout. “They liked me out of college,” Strong said of the Commanders, who sent Strong home before putting him through the paces because their “doctor didn’t pass my knee.”

Cashing his reality check has made it easier for Strong to deal with each dose of disappointment. He has had to accept that he is a second-string quarterback in the USFL with a bum knee. Strong has had to accept that no matter how far he can throw a football, the NFL may never be within his reach. He has had to come to peace with that.

“I’m just playing football at this point. I’m not worried about getting picked up (by an NFL team),” the 23-year-old Strong said candidly. “I’m not guaranteed to pass a physical. They know there’s something going on (in the knee) for sure. I have a few limitations.”

Zephyr spells relief for her father when his knee is throbbing and he is not playing as much as he would like. That was never more evident than when Strong smiled as he held his daughter after the Panthers lost to the Generals on April 30. Strong outplayed Love, who completed 15 of 31 passes for 101 yards. Strong was 4-of-9 for 66 yards, including a 28-yard strike to wide receiver Trey Quinn for the Panthers’ only touchdown.

“It was a pretty special moment for sure,” said Strong, who aspires to be a Division I college coach once his playing days have come to an end. He is already learning how to coach a family with his girlfriend. Zephyr will always be the couple’s No. 1 draft pick.

He’s just kicking it at Nevada

Photos

His return to Vacaville High School on Friday would have been far different if Brandon Talton was nothing more than a walk-on freshman at Nevada with no promise of ever kicking for the Wolf Pack. There would have been no talk of his 56-yard field goal as time expired to beat Purdue on Aug. 30. No one would have asked if his kick made ESPN’s Top 10 Plays and Talton replying it did at No. 3.

His father Drew would not be knocking on a wooden table when he says his son has made all 10 of his field-goal attempts. His parents would be not breathing a sigh of relief because Nevada coach Jay Norvell gave Talton a scholarship about 12 hours after telling him he would kick against Purdue. And his parents would not have been refunded thousands of dollars for a semester of tuition, room and boar

Talton would have a English class on Fridays instead of adding it to his three classes on Mondays because he has to be free on Fridays to travel with the team as he has twice in five weeks thus far. He did not need to lower his head to say grace before having breakfast Sunday to realize he has been blessed. He did anyway because as much as his life has changed since Aug. 31, he remains the same.

A bye Oct. 5 allowed Talton, who graduated from Vacaville High in June, and quarterback Carson Strong, a 2018 Will C. Wood graduate, to jump into Talton’s car and come home for the weekend. The bye was also an opportunity for them to catch their breath and get ready for seven more weeks of football.

Nevada returns to action Saturday by hosting San Jose State at 1 p.m. Strong will start as he did in four of the first five games. He was held out of the Sept. 21 game at UTEP to heal his bumps and bruises. Senior Cristian Solano led the Wolf Pack to a 37-21 win over the Miners, but the job again is Strong’s.

Talton also had to contend with a senior, Spencer Pettit, to win the kicking job. Talton was on his way to a team meeting at lunch on Aug. 30 when Norvell took Talton aside and gave him the good news. Talton sat next to Pettit in the meeting as usual and knew Pettit had already been told he was out of luck.

“I’ve never talked to Spencer about it,” Talton said. “We’re friends. I think we got closer after that.”

Out of respect to Pettit, Talton opted to keep the good news to himself and let his teammates find out on their own. That was his plan until he ran into Strong, who gave Talton a pep talk just in case the former Bulldog got an opportunity to play. Talton eventually cut the ex-Wildcat off and told him he would be.

Talton would have preferred Strong keep it a secret, but he did not say as much. “Carson was so excited for me. He had the biggest smile on his face,” Talton said. “It was Carson who started telling everyone.”

If losing his job to a true freshman was not bad enough, Pettit got kicked in the teeth when Talton won the opener with his 56-yarder. The moment of Norvell presenting Talton with the game ball and a full scholarship after the game was caught on video with Strong providing the shout-out. “And he’s from Vacaville!”

Sleep was a priority for Talton once all the postgame interviews were finished. He turned down an invitation by his parents to go out to dinner and retreated to the five-bedroom apartment he shares with four teammates. He will move to a two-bedroom apartment next year with his sister Nicole, who transferred to Nevada after two years at Sonoma State.

“He was tired,” his father Drew said. “He just crashed.”

A modicum of normalcy had returned when Talton met his parents for breakfast the following day. He was not recognized wearing a Nutrishop Vacaville T-shirt and Lulu Lemon shorts instead of his No. 43 jersey. And at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, Talton hardly looks like a football player at a Division I university.

“It felt like a normal day,” Talton said.

Sure it was.

Four of a kind will win in Reno

Photos

A quarterback from Will C. Wood High School, a kicker from Vacaville High, a running back from Vanden and a cheerleader from Dixon – Reno is known for buffets, but this four-course meal Sept. 14 would have been enough to satisfy the appetite of anyone who roots for any or all of the four schools.

Brandon Talton
Carson Strong
K-La Duncan
Kevin Smith

His time has arrived at Nevada

Photos

Carson Strong cried after every Will C. Wood High School football game in 2017. His tears were born of frustration more than sorrow. After the five victories, Strong did not feel as if he deserved to celebrate with his teammates. After the five losses, he could only wonder if he could have changed the outcome in any of those games.

A knee injury and the subsequent surgery reduced Strong to a sideline spectator as a senior. The quarterback was denied an encore after passing for 2,732 yards and 26 touchdowns with just four interceptions in 2016. His only comfort was those numbers leading the University of Nevada to offer him a scholarship.

Strong was also robbed of a last hurrah in basketball at Wood because his right knee refused to cooperate. To this day, Strong likes to think he could have stopped Vacaville’s Zach Perlstein from sinking two last-second shots to give the Bulldogs a sweep of the Wildcats. No one needs to remind Strong that Vacaville ended Wood’s two-year reign as the Monticello Empire League champion by going 10-0 in 2018.

“It was a dark time for me. It was definitely tough,” Strong said. “I didn’t feel like I was a part of it.”

At least Strong was spared the agony of witnessing those two defeats. He was attending classes at Nevada after leaving Wood, his family and friends at the winter break to get a head start on his college career. There is little chance he would be where he is today if he had stayed at Wood for all the senior frolic.

Behind center is where Strong will be Friday night when he becomes the first freshman to start at quarterback for Nevada in a season opener since 1998. Strong is a redshirt freshman after playing in one game last year. Purdue will be a far tougher test for Strong on Friday than Portland State was last season.

Sacrificing the second half of his senior year now seems as if it was not a sacrifice at all. And with three semesters and two summer sessions under his academic belt, he plans to earn his business degree with two years of athletic eligibility remaining. That will give him ample time on scholarship for a master’s.

From the day he left Wood, Strong realized his world would be much more demanding. He had to get serious. “I was going to 5 a.m. workouts instead of having a cakewalk senior year,” he said. “I missed all the fun stuff (at Wood), but I know what’s best for me. It was the right decision to come here early.”

Practices and scrimmages have prepared Strong for his leading role, but he knows better than to kid himself. He has not thrown a pass or taken a hit in a game since a 38-15 loss to Vacaville in the 2016 Black and Blue Bowl. He has not taken a snap in a game with his right knee in the brace he now has to wear.

None of that can shake Strong’s confidence, however. All those long days of rehabilitating his knee and dragging tackling dummies to the practice field in the chill of a Reno night to use them as targets to improve his accuracy are in the past. The future is knocking and the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Strong is at the door.

“When I get hit for the first time and get up, it’ll be like ‘I’m good. I’m rocking.’ That will knock the butterflies away,” he said. “I couldn’t be better physically, mentally and emotionally. I’m right where I want to be. I’m ready for this.”