Morgan Carter was a man on the move this summer

Prince William County, Va. - After deciding to transfer from Rutgers University and being granted his release, Morgan Carter was a man on the move this summer as he hit the road in search of a new college home.

He looked at East Carolina, North Carolina, Delaware, William & Mary, Virginia, Towson, Penn and Miami of Ohio among others before choosing Georgia Tech. Carter, a 2008 Hylton High School graduate, will sit out a year because of NCAA transfer rules before being eligible to partici-pate in 2011.

With scholarships already used for this coming school year, Carter will be a preferred walk-on for the Yellow Jackets for this season. His scholarship status will be re-evaluated next spring.

Carter said he chose Georgia Tech for a number of reasons, the primary one he said being that its engineering program is ranked No. 1 for African-Americans. Carter, who carried over a 4.0 grade point average at Hylton, wants to study bio-medical engineering, a major that wasn't avail-able at Rutgers.

While at Hylton, Carter had also been recruited by Navy, whose coach at the time was Paul John-son, the current Georgia Tech coach. Al Groh, the Yellow Jackets' defensive coordinator, recruited Carter out of high school as well when Groh was the head coach at Virginia.

Carter said he left Rutgers on amicable terms with the coaching staff. In fact, Carter said he wasn't considering transferring until after the spring practices. It was only then that he be-gan to reassess his situation.

"I didn't feel like I was being squeezed out," Carter said. "It wasn't like I wasn't in the mix [for playing time], but in the end when I spoke to the coaches, there was a mutual agreement that if I left, it wasn't anything they did or I did. I needed to make an adjustment and they supported me."

Coming out of Hylton, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Carter had a number of Division I offers, including ones from Michigan State, Duke, Temple and Connecticut. After being red-shirted his freshman year at Rutgers, the linebacker played in two games last season.

He will have two years of eligibility remaining.

"I felt like I needed a new home and that's not a knock on Rutgers. It's a great program with a great staff, but it did not feel like home for me," Carter said.

ALVAREZ SITTING OUT THIS SEASON

Former Hylton standout offensive lineman Will Alvarez is not academically eligible to play this season for West Liberty University (W.Va), according to the program's head football coach Roger Waialae.

Waialae said that Alvarez is home and will be allowed to reapply for admission back to the school for next year.

Alvarez, who earned all-Group AAA honors as a senior at Hylton and was rated among the state's top 15 seniors coming out of high school, originally signed with Virginia Tech, but left the program in 2009.

Through the help of Virginia Tech, Alvarez got connected with West Liberty. Former Hokie running back Branden Ore had gone there as well.

"We were told that Will a good kid who needed a change of venue," Waialae said.

Last season, the 6-foot-5, 320-pound Alvarez was named an honorable mention all-WVIAC selec-tion. He played in nine games and made eight starts for a team that reached the Division II na-tional quarterfinals.

West Liberty State is ranked as high as No. 3 in preseason polls this year.

Sports editor David Fawcett can be reached at 703-530-3911.