Player Profile

PRO: After being selected with the Cowboys top selection (53rd overall) in the 2001 NFL Draft, Quincy Carter's professional football career moved quickly. Midway through Carter's first training camp, he was handed the reigns of the Cowboys offense and became just the third rookie in franchise history to open the season at quarterback - Troy Aikman (1989) and Roger Staubach (1969) - and only the sixth rookie quarterback to ever start a game for Dallas - Don Meredith (one start in 1960), Roger Staubach (one in 1969), Kevin Sweeney (two in 1987), Aikman (11 in 1989) and Steve Walsh (five in 1989). Carter exhibited a strong arm, intelligence and athletic ability during his rookie season, despite missing eight games due to injury. These characteristics allowed him to start the 2002 season as the franchise's starting signal caller, leading the team to a 3-4 record before losing the starting job midway through the season to Chad Hutchinson. After leading the team to a 6-9 record during his 15 career starts, Carter will battle Hutchinson for the Cowboys starting quarterback job in 2003.

2002: Carter kicked off his sophomore campaign at the helm of the Cowboys offense, but surrendered the reigns to Hutchinson midway through the season. In leading the team for the first seven games on the season, Carter completed 125-of-221 passes for 1,465 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. In the process, he threw for at least 200 yards in six consecutive games, marking the longest such streak by a Cowboys signal caller since Aikman accomplished the feat in the first six games of the 1993 season. Carter also completed more than 20 passes in three straight games - the first time a Dallas quarterback has done so since Aikman in Weeks 8-12 of 1996 - and attempted 35-or-more passes in three straight games - the first time a Cowboys quarterback has done so since Aikman in Weeks 10-12 of the 1996 season. Carter struggled slightly in the season opener at Houston (9/8), throwing for 131 yards and an interception on 13-of-30 passing. He bounced back the next week against Tennessee (9/15) to complete 14-of-24 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns in the Cowboys 21-13 win. After opening the game at Philadelphia (9/22) 11-of-14 for 115 yards, he finished 21-of-35 for 201 yards and an interception. He had a break-out game at St. Louis (9/29), leading Dallas to field goals on their final two possessions of the game to defeat the Rams 16-13. On the final two drives, Carter completed eight-of-12 passes for 64 yards, with three of his incompletions coming as the result of spiked balls to stop the clock. He also gained 24 yards on three carries during those drives. He finished the St. Louis game by completing a career-high 26-of-36 passes for 204 yards, a score and an interception. He came back the next week to throw for a career-high 262 yards and a touchdown on 23-of-42 passing, marking his third straight game with at least 35 attempts. His 42 attempts were a career-high and the most by a Dallas signal caller since Aikman had 43 against Minnesota on Nov. 23, 2000. Against Carolina (10/13), Carter guided the Cowboys to their second last second win in three weeks with two fourth quarter touchdown passes, including a career-long 80-yarder to Joey Galloway to swing the momentum Dallas' way with 3:55 remaining in the game. Facing a fourth down from the Carolina 24-yard line with less than a minute to play, he calmly connected with Antonio Bryant on a 24-yard game-winning touchdown pass. Carter finished the day 15-of-32 for 225 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The following week at Arizona (10/20), he completed 13-of-22 passes for 202 yards - his sixth straight 200-yard passing day - one touchdown and four interceptions. The following week against Seattle (10/27), Hutchinson took over the starting quarterback duties and Carter served as the club's back-up quarterback the final nine games of the season, not seeing any additional playing time.

2001: After being named the starter midway through training camp (Aug. 14), Carter became the first rookie to start the season at quarterback for the Cowboys since Aikman in 1989. Although injuries limited Carter through the first 10 games of the season, he made outstanding progress in his development, and finished the year in very impressive - and productive - fashion. Carter's final quarterback rating of 63.0 ranked ahead of fellow rookie quarterbacks Michael Vick (Atlanta - 62.7) and Chris Weinke (Carolina - 62.0), who also started games. Detroit's Mike McMahon (69.9) was the only rookie with at least one start to finish the season with a higher quarterback rating than Carter. For the year, Carter completed 90-of-176 pass attempts for 1,072 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions while being sacked just 12 times. He also ran the ball 45 times for 150 yards. Carter led Dallas to more victories than any other rookie quarterback in club history, and his numbers for pass attempts, completions, yardage and touchdowns ranked third at the time among Dallas rookies - trailing Aikman and Walsh. In the season opener against Tampa Bay (9/9), Carter became just the third rookie quarterback to start a season for Dallas, joining Roger Staubach (1969) and Troy Aikman (1989). He completed 9-of-19 passes for 34 yards in the 10-6 loss to the Bucs. His 17-yard scramble in the first quarter set up a Cowboys' field goal. Three days later in practice (Sept. 12), Carter suffered a sprained right thumb after hitting his hand on Troy Hambrick's helmet. The injury forced him to miss the next two games (San Diego - 9/23 and at Philadelphia - 9/30) before returning to the starting lineup at Oakland (10/7). However, Carter suffered a severely strained left hamstring against the Raiders after he had run for 21 yards on three carries and completed one-of-five passes. The hamstring injury required surgery on Oct. 15, and Carter used the next seven weeks to rehabilitate the injury and develop his skills. He was inactive for three games before suiting up as the Cowboys third quarterback the next three weeks. He returned to game action at Washington (12/2), and recorded his first victory as a starter by guiding Dallas to a 20-14 win. In the win over the Redskins, Carter completed seven-of-14 passes for 130 yards, including a 64-yard fourth quarter touchdown toss to Raghib Ismail for his first career scoring pass. The following week against the N.Y. Giants (12/9), Carter led Dallas to a 20-13 victory while completing a season-high 17 passes on 26 attempts for 194 yards. He also ran seven times for nine yards, including a critical 11-yard run on third-and-11 at the Giants 14-yard line to set up his game-winning touchdown pass to Jackie Harris on the next play. Carter attempted a season-high 33 passes in the Cowboys loss at Seattle (12/16), completing 14 for 135 yards and one interception. He also ran six times for a team-high 40 yards. The following week at Arizona (12/23), Carter was 16-of-28 for 176 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Swinton, and two interceptions. Carter engineered the Cowboys to a 27-21 win over the San Francisco 49ers (12/30) while throwing for a season-high 241 yards and two touchdowns on 15-of-25 passing. He also ran 10 times, the most rushing attempts in a game by a Dallas quarterback in club history (Randall Cunningham - 9 at Philadelphia Nov. 5, 2000), for 30 yards and his first career rushing touchdown. For his efforts in the 49er win, Carter was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. He closed the season by completing 11-of-26 passes for 158 yards at Detroit (1/6/02).

COLLEGE: Carter started every game in which he played (29) at the University of Georgia and led the Bulldogs to a 20-9 record. He finished his three-year career second in school annals in completions (483), pass attempts (853) and passing yards (6,447) and third in career at Georgia touchdown passes (35). Carter finished his final campaign (junior year) by completing 91-of-183 passes for 1,250 yards, 10 interceptions and six touchdowns despite missing four games due to injury. A left shoulder injury forced him out of one game and strained ligaments in his right thumb caused him to miss the final three games. As a sophomore, Carter earned second team All-SEC honors after completing 216-of-380 passes for 2,713 yards, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions while leading the Bulldogs offense to 416 yards-per-game - second in the SEC. Georgia finished the season with a 7-4 record and a No. 14 ranking in the final AP poll. In the Outback Bowl against Purdue, Carter threw for 243 yards and a touchdown on 20-of-33 passing to lead the Bulldogs to the biggest come-from-behind victory in school history. Georgia claimed a 28-25 overtime victory after trailing the Boilermakers 25-0. His 2,713 passing yards - including five 300-yard passing performances in 11 starts - set Georgia's sophomore record. His interception percentage of 1.58 (six picks in 380 pass attempts) was a school record and the second lowest percentage in SEC history. He also compiled the third longest streak in SEC history after throwing 170 consecutive passes without an interception. As a freshman, Carter led the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record and a No. 16 ranking in the final AP poll. He established school freshman marks for pass attempts (290), completions (176), yards (2,484) and touchdowns (12) while throwing for 300 yards or more four times. His performance earned him SEC Freshman of the Year honors.

PERSONAL: Quincy Carter was named Georgia Player of the Year by USA Today, Parade All-America and first-team all-state following his senior season at Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, Ga., where he was also a standout baseball player. During his prep football career, he passed for 4,450 yards and 37 touchdowns while rushing for 1,489 yards and 32 scores. The sports studies major was drafted by Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs in the second round of the 1996 amateur draft and spent three seasons in the Cubs farm system. Carter batted .215 in his first professional season (1996), playing for Ft. Myers (Fla.) in rookie league ball and Daytona (Fla.) at the Class A level. He hit .211 for Class A Rockford (Ill.) in 1997 and .253 for Rockford in 1998. As a rookie, Carter was a member of the Cowboys inaugural "Rookie Club," a program designed to introduce rookies to community and service. Throughout the season, the rookies made visits to and spent time with children at Children's Medical Center of Dallas, Oak Cliff Boys and Girls Clubs, The Salvation Army and its' Christmas Distribution Center. Following his Rookie Club community service experience, Quincy has continued an active role supporting various charitable efforts, including the MDA Muscle Team Bash, the Spina Bifida Annual Bowl-a-thon, the Cowboys United Way Hometown Huddle event for children, The Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, Cans for Kids Food Bank Drive, the Texas Department of Human Services Food Stamp Outreach Campaign and The Salvation Army. Quincy also developed a reading initiative in the fall on 2002 called "Time Out Tuesday," where once a month during the season he would visit an elementary school to read to the children and share his thought with them on the importance of reading and education. Quincy has two children, a daughter, Khai (8/1/95), and a son, Keyshawn (1/10/00).