The Sports Xchange

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — One position the Detroit Lions could rely on rookies heavily this year is cornerback, and their top draft pick at that spot finally arrived at organized team activities this week.

Alex Carter, a third-round pick from Stanford, missed the first two weeks of OTAs because NFL rules mandate that players from schools that are on the quarter system can’t report to their teams until final exams are finished. He’ll have to play catch up after missing six practices, but head coach Jim Caldwell said Wednesday the rookie has acclimated himself well so far.

“He’s gotten baptized, and I think you could see that coach Oden (cornerbacks coach Tony Oden) had him out there doing a little extra after practice is over with trying to catch up,” Caldwell said. “Now, I think he did a nice job of doing what the league allows us to do in terms of his studies and visiting with coach Oden whenever he could. But it’s nothing like being here, getting the reps and so he’s trying to make up for that.”

For the past two weeks, Carter said he had two psychology classes and a religious studies class, all in the morning. After that, he would work out, and later in the day look at his iPad to see the film the Lions uploaded for him to watch. Then, he’d go out and practice what he could, most of the time by himself, to make sure he was using proper technique.

With his classes ending Thursday, Carter arrived for OTAs on Monday and will keep trying to play catch up.

“The first day always presents some challenges, but after that I got my feet under me,” he said. “Day 2 was better, Day 3 was great today, and I’m just going to keep improving every day that one percent.”

During practice Wednesday, Carter had an interception during the one-on-one period and participated on special teams. With minicamp next week, he’ll have more opportunities to prove himself, but any first-team reps likely will have to wait until training camp. Now that he’s back with the team, Carter said he’ll try to watch veterans to see how they practice. He also said he’s looking forward to covering Calvin Johnson.

“I was happy when I got drafted here because I know that I’m going to become better just by being out on this field going against all these guys,” he said.

The 6-foot Carter likely will be a backup outside cornerback to start the season with Darius Slay and Rashean Mathis set in their jobs. He’ll have a chance to battle for nickel duties, too, but he’ll have to compete with Josh Wilson, Nevin Lawson, Bill Bentley and sixth-round pick Quandre Diggs.

And even though Carter can now focus on football without worrying about class, he does plan to go back to school to finish his degree, whether it’s taking online courses from Stanford or enrolling at the University of Michigan.

“That opens up doors, having a Stanford degree, because football only lasts for so long,” Carter said. “The average career is 31/2 (years), and as much as I want to play 10, 20 years, I know that eventually it’s going to be over and I’m going to have to do something else, so getting that degree is important.”