Alphonso Carter pleads guilty to a misdemeanor charge

Louisville football senior cornerback Alphonso Carter has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed deadly weapon. Carter was originally facing a Class-D felony charge of tampering with physical evidence, stemming from a traffic stop last December.

On December 6th, Carter was pulled over for running a red light on South 15th Street. When the police asked Carter to step out of his vehicle, he appeared to be very nervous, and subsequently told the officers that he had a loaded handgun under his driver’s seat and that he had hid it there while he was being pulled over.

Carter, a senior who earned his bachelor’s degree, has a year of eligibility left, but has been suspended indefinitely by head coach Bobby Petrino earlier this month after Petrino first caught wind of Alphonso’s incident. Carter did travel with the team to the Citrus Bowl, but did not play because of an injury. This was a few weeks after being pulled over, but Petrino did not know of it at the time.

Carter (legally changed his name from Paul Harris to Alphonso Carter) was originally a wide receiver coming out of high school, but switched positions to defensive back last year. He was a JUCO transfer after spending some time at the University of Tennessee. While a backup cornerback, Carter was primarily a factor on special teams.

Carter isn’t the only Louisville football player who is having some off the field issues this off-season. In January, quarterback Jawon Pass was found possessing marijuana and is charged with a misdemeanor. He has a court date set for March 9th. Junior receiver Traveon Samuel also faces a misdemeanor charge. On the afternoon of January 6th, Samuel was pulled over in Shepherdsville for speeding and faces a charge for racing a motor vehicle on a public highway.

Not the type of off-season news you want to hear.