“I’m watching my baby have a baby, being so responsible and so strong for his wife in that hospital room,” Sheryl Carr said of Derek, her youngest son. “He’s the one telling me that it’s going to be O.K., that God’s got this. I remember thinking that’s the young man I raised him to be. That’s how I always envisioned him.

“Along the way, he made some decisions I think he’s ashamed of. Nothing different than any other college kid, but things so far away from how he was raised.”

Carr, 22, enrolled at Fresno State when he was 17. He graduated early from a private Christian school in Bakersfield, eager to begin chasing down every passing record set by David Carr, the Giants backup quarterback who was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2002 draft out of Fresno State. David Carr still holds the program’s single-season records for passing yards (4,299) and touchdowns (42); Derek is second in both categories (4,104 and 37).

Little Carr, as Derek was called, was instantly loved and locally famous, before he even completed a college pass. He was David Carr’s little brother on a campus where David Carr throwback jerseys remain a best seller. He experienced hero worship by association.

“Obviously, he has a great gift, but with that comes a lot of temptation, a lot of pride opportunities,” David said. “I would see things that weren’t right and always say something to him. Sometimes he didn’t want to hear it, but it was all done in love.”

Derek loved what he called “the college quarterback life.” He partied and hung out with his mother’s idea of the wrong crowd. He now sees the Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel on the news and is so glad ESPN didn’t pay him any attention when he was a freshman.