Rookie Alex Carter getting 'baptized' in Lions OTAs

Every night for the past few weeks, rookie cornerback Alex Carter would get on the phone with his position coach, Tony Oden, around 5 p.m. and talk football.

For Carter, the Detroit Lions' third-round pick out of Stanford, Oden was his lifeline to a team that he was forced to be away from.

Per NFL rules, Carter could not take part in the first two weeks of organized team activities while school was in session at Stanford.

So, after finishing class in the morning - he was enrolled in two psyche classes and a religious studies course - Carter would squeeze in a workout, do position drills by himself, then talk to Oden and watch film of the Lions' practice and meetings that were uploaded onto his iPad.

The goal was to keep Carter up to speed with his' defense and, in his first few days back in Allen Park, it appears to have worked.

"The first day always presents some challenges," Carter said after practice today. "But after that I got my feet under me. Day 2 was better, Day 3 was great today. And I'm just going to keep improving every day that 1 percent."

Thoughts from Week 3 of Lions OTAs

Carter played mostly with the third-team defense in practice today and took some reps on special teams. He had an interception in one-on-one drills, when Anthony Boone threw an errant pass to Vernon Johnson. And after practice he spent about 15 minutes working on technique with Oden while most of his teammates headed to the locker room.

"He's gotten baptized and I think you could see that Coach Oden had him out there doing a little extra after practice was over with trying to catch up," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "Now, I think he did a nice job of doing what the league allowed us to do in terms of his studies and visiting with Tony, 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. But I thought he's acclimated fairly well."

The Lions should have the luxury of bringing Carter along slowly this fall.

Darius Slay and Rashean Mathis are expected to start at cornerback, and one of Quandre Diggs, Josh Wilson or Don Carey should man the nickel position.

But Carter, who intends to finish his degree at some point early in his playing career, has designs on contributing in some form or fashion this year.

"I feel like I can compete with all these guys in the defensive backfield," Carter said. "So my job is just to learn the playbook as best I can, compete on special teams, find a role there and just get my career started."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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