Sitting on the Indiana football team bus in Columbus, Ohio in November 2022, Carter Smith could hardly contain himself.
The offensive tackle, who grew up around 20 minutes from Ohio Stadium, knew he’d make his collegiate debut that day. And the true freshman couldn’t hide his excitement as he left the team hotel.
Smith was so amped up, some teammates became concerned.
“I will never forget, on the bus ride over there, he had his sunglasses on and Beats headphones in. I was freaked out, like how excited (he was),” former IU center Mike Katic said in 2023. “I was like, ‘Dude, you need to calm down. There’s still three hours until game time.’”
It’s easy to understand the emotion running through Smith in that moment. He didn’t grow up a Buckeye fan, but he knew he’d be getting a chance to play Big Ten football for the first time in front of his family and friends at home. IU was heading down the stretch of a disappointing season, and things weren’t going completely smooth for Smith on scout team. But he channeled those frustrations into motivation in Columbus.
That game at the Horseshoe served as the first sign of things to come for Smith. It may have been easy for fans to miss, as CJ Stroud led Ohio State to a lopsided 56-14 win. But Smith’s play wasn’t lost on the Buckeyes. His older brother, Landon — an OSU walk-on defensive end from 2022 through 2024 — recalled teammates praising Carter’s potential after scouting him and then playing against him.
“After the game, Jack (Sawyer) came up to me and he was like, ‘Dude, your brother is gonna be damn good,’” Landon told The Daily Hoosier in a phone interview. “Carter’s known Jack for a little bit, cause I grew up playing baseball with him. But even like JT (Tuimoloau) and Zach Harrison and those guys gave him props and were like, ‘This kid’s gonna be good.’”
Fresh from the fight
With much more experience since that debut, Smith has learned how to better manage his pregame emotions and get in the right headspace at the right time.
He’s learned from veterans above him like Katic, who stayed level-headed until game time actually approached. Smith now listens to music in the locker room after warm-ups, so around an hour to 45 minutes before kickoff. That playlist is littered with ‘80s music, which he enjoys. But there’s one song, in particular, he makes sure to queue up in those last few moments in the locker room.
“My go-to song is ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ by Bonnie Tyler,” Smith told The Daily Hoosier in a one-on-one interview. “There’s just something about it. It’s very upbeat. I love ‘80s music.”
But there’s more to that track for Smith than just a good vibe, whether intentional or by coincidence. He feels it’s emblematic of his role on the Hoosiers.
The comparison isn’t about specific lyrics — the redshirt junior doesn’t view himself as “larger than life” or “a white knight upon a fiery steed.” For Smith, it’s more about the song’s character. He knows his job: defend and protect his teammates, and step up and do that in critical positions on the field and important moments in games. It’s an oft-unsung role, but that’s part of the appeal for him.
“I think the coolest thing about being an offensive lineman — and a lot of people will see this as a negative — is that you don’t get all the attention,” Smith told TDH. “If there’s too much hype around you, it can go to your head and maybe it’ll affect the way you play. I think with O-linemen, kind of being that underseen position group, it’s given me a level head and given me the ability to do what I need to do.”
Growing into a lineman
Smith fell in love with the game the first time he played flag football in first grade. He started playing tackle in third grade, and joined a travel squad in middle school.
That’s when he started to realize where he belonged on the field.
“I got my first opportunity to get the ball on a handoff — I fumbled it,” Smith told TDH. “My coach smacked me on the back of my head, and he said, ‘Go sit down.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, that sucks.’ Now I know where my role is. Can’t hold a ball.”
He’d already played offensive line at that point, but that moment made clear he was meant to play on the line.
Once he reached Olentangy Liberty High, he became more focused on football. He played tackle for junior varsity as a freshman and sophomore.
The offseason between his sophomore and junior years became a pivotal period in his career. Olentangy Liberty coaches met with Smith after that sophomore season, when he checked in around 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, and told him he needed to get to around 260 pounds if he was serious about pursuing college football.
So in the span of around seven months, Smith gained 50 pounds. That meant ordering extra food anytime the family went out to eat, incorporating more protein shakes and prepared meals into his routine, and working with a nutritionist to make sure his diet and workout regimens would yield results.
That required a lot of effort. It helped that Carter was naturally a big eater. Landon couldn’t name a singular tally of the most he’s seen Carter eat in one sitting, but one notable instance he recalled got the point across.
“I’ve seen him eat a full large pizza, and wings and breadsticks, and half a gallon of chocolate milk,” Landon told TDH. “And then an hour later, he’s like, ‘What’s in the fridge?’”
Landon gained a lot of respect for Carter when he saw the attention and the work he put into gaining weight. It wasn’t simply sitting on the couch with piles of junk food; Carter made sure he was putting on good weight.
That effort later paid dividends on the field. Landon saw that difference from Carter’s first play as a junior, his first snap on the varsity team.
“I stood up to watch his first play, and he f***ing buried this kid. And I was like, ‘Whoa, this kid is a different breed,’” Landon told TDH. “Complete 180 from what I saw the year before.”
Brotherly love and rivalry
Carter and Landon spent only that one year as high school teammates, when Carter was a junior and Landon a senior in 2020. That time meant a lot to them.
The Smith brothers are very close. Anytime Carter knows Landon will be at one of his games, he’ll look for his older brother when he gets off the team bus. And when he finds him, they do the same handshake they did before every high school game they played together.
“I would say he’s kind of my rock,” Carter told TDH. “Whenever something’s going wrong, he’s the person I turn to. He’s the person I’ll talk to. He’s a big part of my life.”
As an offensive lineman-defensive lineman sibling duo, Carter and Landon had easy practice partners in each other. They squared off countless times in high school, whether on the practice field or in the backyard. Carter said his brother was the only person who beat him one-on-one in high school.
That head-to-head matchup gave Carter an edge that stuck with him. He wanted to defeat Landon as much as possible — a familiar feeling amongst competitive siblings.
“He was the person in my ear. We were going up against each other every day. (We were) talking a little bit of s*** to each other,” Carter told TDH. “I think having him to play with throughout high school was a big lesson to me throughout the rest of my career.”
When Carter joined varsity as a junior, Landon had already played on varsity for a year and a half. Earlier in that season, when they’d go head-to-head, Landon typically out-dueled his younger brother. But as Carter improved and developed, he started to gain an upper hand.
“You go against your brother, you wanna beat him, you wanna rub his face in the dirt. And just his competitiveness and that edge that he’s got, eventually we were splitting and going like 50-50 (in head-to-heads). And then there were some where he would just completely knock me off guard and stand me up,” Landon told TDH. “Just seeing him progress over the course of that year was special.”
Increased importance
Smith played 61 snaps in his debut at Ohio State, mostly at right tackle. He played only three snaps across IU’s 11 other games that year.
He entered 2023 as Indiana’s starting left tackle, after Luke Haggard exhausted his eligibility. Smith was far from perfect, but he impressed veteran lineman teammates with his week-to-week improvement early in the season and his work ethic to get better. Former IU lineman Matt Bedford noted how frequently Smith would ask him and offensive line coach Bob Bostad questions.
“I’ve seen him growing, from game one to game three. Just correcting the mistakes, every week. He’s just looking at the game film, looking at the practice film,” Bedford said in 2023. “And (he) is really just chomping away, trying to make sure he’s not making the same mistakes.”
Smith continued improving and displaying potential as his redshirt freshman season went on. By November, with another frustrating season approaching its conclusion, the Powell, Ohio native was one of the team’s few bright spots.
He started all 12 games for the Hoosiers in 2023, their youngest player to do so that year. He’d developed into one of the best offensive linemen in his draft class — his 67.7 Pro Football Focus grade in 2023 ranked 15th among all tackles in the class of 2026, with just one Big Ten player ahead of him. Smith was IU’s best tackle that year.
He’d also become one of Indiana’s more important players to retain when the program fired Tom Allen and hired Curt Cignetti. The tackle entered the transfer portal one day after Allen’s firing, and three days before Cignetti was named head coach.
Smith received significant interest in the portal, reportedly taking visits to Florida State, Ole Miss, and Virginia Tech.
But ultimately, Smith bought into the new regime and opted to stay in Bloomington. During fall camp 2024, he cited Bostad’s return as a major factor in his decision.
Keeping Smith was as big for IU as any of the new pieces Cignetti added in the portal.
“There’s no place I’d rather be than Indiana,” Smith told TDH. “Even through all the heartbreak, the despair, the ups and the downs. Going through two seasons like that (2022-23) really makes you grateful for what we did last year.”
A key player and a key teammate
Indiana enjoyed a historic 2024 season in Cignetti’s first year, with significant contributions from all over the field.
Smith was undeniably a big part of IU’s offensive success. He posted an 80.1 overall PFF grade, which ranked second on the team and seventh in the Big Ten among all offensive linemen with at least 100 snaps. He earned All-Big Ten honorable mention status for his performance.
Defensive lineman Kellan Wyatt has faced off with Smith countless times in fall camp this year, and he opposed Smith in multiple games with Maryland. He knows first-hand how tough a competitor IU’s left tackle is.
“It’s hard to find things to beat him with,” Wyatt said. “He doesn’t have many flaws in his game. Going against him every day in practice, it not only makes him better, it also makes me better.”
With so much experience, Smith is now a prominent leader on the offensive line.
Teammates readily point out his fun-loving personality, and he’s often sporting a smile on the field. It’s important for him to keep football fun, as that’s what drew him to the sport as a kid.
But goofiness aside, Smith has become a role model for his teammates. In particular, his competitiveness, work ethic, and football IQ set examples for younger teammates to follow.
Fellow veterans in the room admire him as well.
“He’s got a great left tackle build, and he’s super athletic. He uses his long arms and his length really well. He’s just a really smart football player, I think. And he knows the game really well. He knows the ins and outs of it,” center Pat Coogan said. “Obviously, he’s played a ton of ball here. So that’s something you learn through experience, and he has a ton of it.”
Mikail Kamara may have as good a perspective on Smith as any IU player.
He’s effectively taken Landon’s place as Carter’s biggest rival in practice. Smith made note during fall camp last year how difficult Kamara is to block, and the James Madison transfer has made similar comments about Smith on several occasions.
Smith’s preseason praise proved prescient, as Kamara earned All-Big Ten first team honors. The Ashburn, Va. native gives Smith a great way to prepare for top-end Big Ten pass rushers on upcoming opponents, by facing off with him in practice every day. And that high level of play brings out Smith’s competitiveness — he told TDH he gets a “bothersome feeling in his head and chest” whenever Kamara beats him one-on-one.
The competitiveness and respect goes both ways. Kamara similarly feels that competing against Smith helps him get ready for other high-level tackles he’ll face throughout the season.
“Carter, in my opinion, will be the best tackle in college football,” Kamara said. “He’s a great player. He’s smart, he’s quick, he’s strong. He plays really well with his technique. He throws me a bunch of different sets, a bunch of different looks. He changes his stance, he does this, he does that. He does a lot of good things that gets me thinking, keeps me guessing. When me and him battle, it’s like I’m in the NFL. Whenever I’m going up against him, I know I’m getting better, I know he’s getting better.”
‘Someone who does it right’
Smith enters his redshirt junior season as one of the top offensive linemen in the Big Ten, with the upside of becoming one of the best in the nation, as Kamara predicted.
If he continues his trajectory of improving every year, there isn’t much that’s unattainable for Smith.
“I think the sky’s the limit, really. Wouldn’t put a limit on it,” Cignetti said. “He’s got a lot of talent. He’s a great kid, high-character guy, good leader on this team. Looking for him to have a big year for us.”
Whenever he decides to turn professional, whether it’s the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft, Smith will have intriguing potential at the next level. At 6-foot-5 and 313 pounds, he has the size to play in the league. And his high level of play, combined with his background, fill out a solid NFL prospect profile.
But before that future takes shape, Smith will suit up at left tackle for the most highly-anticipated Indiana football season in a long time. It’s another go-around with his teammates, one of the biggest drivers of his passion for the game.
“I think it comes from having a brother, just doing whatever you can for the guy next to you. When he got to Indiana, I know he felt that way with a lot of the guys on the team,” Landon told TDH. “If he’s going on the field with you and he knows that, that kid will literally cut his arm off for you and give his all.”
Smith has a rare perspective of IU football, as a starter for both Allen and Cignetti. He’s worked with three offensive coordinators and three offensive line coaches through his career. His presence in the program’s rise to national prominence will be a major part of his legacy.
He’ll also be remembered for his prominent decision to stick with the Hoosiers after the coaching change, when most of their transfer portal entrants went elsewhere.
But above all, Carter Smith wants to be remembered in Bloomington as someone who cared deeply about IU, gave his all to help the football team, and maintained belief in what the program could become.
“Just someone who cared about this school. Someone who believed in something bigger than himself. I put all my devotion and all my hard work into both of my head coaches. That’s how I want people to remember me,” Smith told TDH. “Just someone who shows up to work, is committed to the team, and someone who does it right.”
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