March 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday amid ongoing special counsel investigations into the potential mishandling of classified documents by two presidents. The debate between Yates and Carter in Texas is a popular one. Nothing could deter the Cowboys on their way to winning the state championship that year. Evans has never let his life be defined by the mistakes of his youth. Related: The 5 Best Sports Movie Coaches Of All Time (& The 5 Worst), Despite playing larger-than-life roles like Nick Fury in the MCU, the Coach Carter true story makes this role one of Samuel L. Jackson's finest. "I was a fearless competitor on the field," Evans said. But eventually retirement got to him. Muhammad, who renewed acquaintances with Evans when he began work on the movie, said Evans is still the same character he remembers from Carter days. The character names and circumstances were made up so as not to embarrass any of basketball coach Ken Carters real students with implications of criminal activities. However, when it comes to violating the law, at the courthouse it simply doesn't matter than you can run the football.'. Heres a look at where each of the stars of the second season of Last Chance U are now. Ashley Steffeck. Williams attributed his involvement in the robberies to a desire for attention. Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond. The No. All the other ones I had, I dont know where they went, Wright said. But it didn't happen, and I can't sit around and cry about it. 'Derrick got five years. They had guys on who could just go. A tipster notified UIL, which began an investigation into Carter. Among those sentenced by state District Judge Joe Kendall were Parade magazine All-American defensive back Derric Evans, who was sentenced to 20 years on each of four armed robbery counts, and running back-defensive back Gary Edwards, who received three 16-year terms. But sacks were slow to come for the No. Le'Shai Maston was a really intriguing player because he was all over the field and so active. Six players from that team, a few of them stars, were sent to jail following a series of arrests for armed robbery. The team ultimately lost in the second round of their district playoffs instead of the first round of the state tournament. Perpetual underachievers for most of the 1980s, the 1988 Cowboys, led by Evans, linebacker Jesse Armstead, running back-defensive back Gary Edwards and quarterback Robert Hall, were one of the state's top-rated teams before they were declared ineligible for the playoffs because of a no-pass, no-play grading controversy involving Edwards. "I don't think you can fall much further," Hootnick says, "and I say that in part because of the level of the pedestal that, as a Texas high school football star, that's almost as big as it gets. You can see somebody like Jessie Armstead go to the highest heights in the game and use that to set themselves up for life. He was a wide receiver who served seven-and a-half years of a 25-year sentence for armed robbery. Im trying to get you Im trying to get you scholarships, Stephens said. The graduation rate for student-athletes in Richmond was low, and Carters basketball players all graduated during his time as coach from 1997 to 2002. A judge has sentenced 10 current and former high school athletes to prison terms of up to 25 years for their roles in numerous armed robberies in the Dallas area over the past year. I think it shows football actually as the hedge, Muhammad says. Things went all downhill from there for the No. Or you could see somebody like Derric Evans or Gary Edwards, who had that level of talent but failed to take advantage of the opportunity.". In the film, Thornton tells his team that to win state, they'll have to beat "a team of monsters" from Carter High School in Dallas (which they fail to do). Over the course of one month in the spring of 1989, six Dallas Carter players, including Edwards and defensive back Derric Evans, were charged with committing a series of seven armed robberies. It was over with. Thats close to a third of players on a team that had just over 60 varsity players that season. State District Judge Joe Kendall ordered that an 11th youth be sent to a prison boot camp for young offenders. Back in '88, Edwards was one of the best on the field, but he was also. Not the racial tensions of the time. He says, "These guys talk about the fact that no matter how far they went after playing big time Texas high school football, there was no crowd that felt more intense, there was no game that felt bigger than their biggest games in their Texas high school careers. Former Dallas Cowboy Greg Ellis worked as executive producer, and former Carter High football player Arthur Muhammad wrote the script. If thats told, hopefully some high school kids that are watching it learn from some of those mistakes and say, thats not a road I want to go down. Kristen Taketa/Staff Writer, Former Carter High School coach Freddie James at the premiere of Carter High at Studio Movie Grill in Dallas. You know, they were middle-class kids, they had cars, they had all the clothes they want. 2 junior college player in the 2018 class. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. "I'm not afraid of life, man," he said. None of the students depicted in the movie are actual students that Ken Carter coached during his time at Richmond, other than his own son Damien, played by Robert Richard. Played on the team with the . Coach Carter turns 20 in a few years, so what is the real Ken Carter up to after being played by Samuel L. Jackson? He was always confident and carried himself with the little swagger that he has. Finally, Coach Carter changed the varsity Oilers' win record to 16-0 before the lockdown. He reconnected with former Richmond students in 2018, and one, Wayne Oliver, went on to be an international basketball player after playing under Carter in high school. You know, be it good or be it bad. The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 2, 2018 Most fans knew Derek Luke for starring in Antwone Fisher in 2002. Wright signed with West Georgia, a Division II program. One of the players from the 1998-1999 season that Carter coached was Courtney Anderson, who became an NFL tight end and played for the Oakland Raiders, the Detroit Lions (the team both Eddie Brock and Axel Foley support), and the Atlanta Falcons from 2004 to 2007. Before sentencing, Judge Kendall lectured the youths for about 10 minutes, telling them they had no excuse for committing the crimes. That same fearlessness I had on the football field, I translated that when I got out of the penitentiary into the business side. They stopped calling me. "That personality followed me off the field, which caused me to get into trouble and make some bad decisions. The actor also seems to have had a strong connection to the story and formed a relationship with the real Carter while preparing for the role. Others reacted with joy because they believed young troublemakers had gotten what they deserved. Now, a new movie chronicles the teams against-all-odds rise and its steep fall. Evans said he came to Houston after being released from prison to live with his mother, who moved to Houston in the early 1990s. RELATED: The True Story Of Till Explained (& What The Movie Leaves Out). The 1988 Dallas Carter High School football team stormed its way to a state championship -- only to be brought down by an armed robbery scandal which sent half a dozen players to prison.. Ellis, the executive producer, told The Monday Morning Quarterback that he hopes viewers will take a similar message away from the film. Three Carter players from that team Le'Shai Maston, Jessie Armstead and Clifton Abraham played in the NFL. I attacked that the same way I attacked football.". He scored six points on 3-for . The players included: Edwards, who had the disputed algebra grade; Derric Evans, who announced his college commitment in the hot tub; Keith Campbell, who got the longest sentence; Patrick P.K. Williams; Aric Andrews; and Carlos Allen. It serves as a cautionary tale, Ellis said, to young viewers today. He wont be in Boca Raton by himself. And that's what he wanted, too. Despite all the public attention, you are nothing but a bunch of crimnials who went out, put guns on honest working people, terrified them and took their money. Some in the community agreed with West that prison sentences seemed harsh for young men who had made mistakes. Chelsea is an Audience Journalist who promotes Dallas Morning News content on various social media platforms and manages the homepage. March 1 (UPI) -- FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic likely started as a lab leak in Wuhan, China. As the legal wrangling continued through the playoffs, the Carter Cowboys stayed focused and pushed forward to win the state championship. Season Two is somewhat of a Greek tragedy for the now-sophomore. Johnson performed well in the spring, and Kiffin has said hes in competition for Florida Atlantics starting job heading into fall camp. When I came to him with the idea of doing the movie, I told him I wanted to show what really happened. In one instance, two star players used a .22 revolver to take $256 and a movie rental that cost $3.24 from a Video Exchange. Before, she was a Research & Archives Associate and wrote about the historical happenings from the The News' archives. The film featured Dallas' 1988 Carter High School football season. Its still early in the ranking process for junior college players many of the top prospects for the upcoming year havent started yet. February was a busy month for stargazers with planetary alignments, a green comet flying past the Earth and even a fireball that scattered meteorites across Texas. The players were arrested, tried and convicted. That firestorm began when Russeau moved player Gary Edwards from one algebra class where the teacher insisted Edwards was failing to another that used a school improvement plan system implemented by the principal. In reality, they had freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams, all of which Carter coached during his five years at Richmond High. People are going to start taking em from you.. More recently its taken him as a high school football coach from Grand Prairie to Frisco to Mesquite. Staff writer Brad Townsend conrtributed to this report. Caution, however, can work both ways. Additionally, keep an eye on quarterback Vijay Miller, who started the first game of the season and had a few positive moments in Last Chance Us second season. One of the few holdovers from season one, Wright famously put himself on the kickoff team in the first episode of the series, scoring on a long return and helping to kick the Lions into gear. The No. I just wanted attention. Emily Ochsenschlager and Jessica Smith produced and edited this interview for broadcast, and Nicole Cohen adapted it for the Web. / CBS Texas. This is just part of the story of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary What Carter Lost, which premiered Aug. 24. Former state District Judge Joe Kendall in his sentencing of Carter High players. Its what matters more: Your talent on the field or what you do off it? (Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer). "I didn't have respect for the law at that time and now I look at life in a more humble way," said Campbell. But the long retired Russeau doesnt spend his time dwelling on the past. It didnt matter where. The biggest change from the real Coach Carter story is the students. "It's a story that needs to be retold," he said. Yates defense in 1985 allowed 4.8 points per game and pitched eight shutouts in a season in which it went 16-0. It was the first in nearly two dozen robberies connected to some players on the team. It seems that Ken Carter, the father and former basketball coach who inspired Coach Carter, continues to be a role model to this day. Last Chance U was something of a surprise phenomenon last year as the show opened on Netflix to rave reviews. But. Aside from a few creative liberties to make the story more cinematic, Carter's perspective on the story was honored. The joke was the student parking lot was a heck of a lot nicer than the teacher parking lot.". DALLAS (CBS11) A private screening of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary "What Carter Lost," was held at the Texas Theatre on Wednesday night. ET. So thats the story, the good and the bad. Muhammad was on that 1988 state championship team. Editor's note: This story was published as the movie 'Carter High' was set to hit theaters. And despite Lane Kiffin taking over the job on the 12th, Johnson signed with the Owls two days later without ever meeting his future head coach. But eventually, retirement got him. So the way that those parents were undercut after everything they did to keep that team on the field and to try to put forward their version of who they were to have that all undone, you know, I think that's the story that's never been told.". Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared winner of Nigeria's presidential election. 'When I compare you with a typical young offender who comes before me, you are especially without excuse,' Kendall added. We always thought that, Wow this would be a great movie, somebody needs to make a movie about this,' Muhammad says. The film featured Dallas' 1988 Carter High School football season. Coach Freddie James retired from the Dallas school district two decades ago, off to travel and finally work on his wifes honey-do list. 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