The Seminoles clinched a 34-17 season-opening victory against New Mexico State on August 29. But while the team celebrated on the field, true freshman Devin Carter sat on the sidelines.

The promising freshman wide receiver had spent weeks pushing through severe physical distress, hoping to make his college debut, only to find out his body was severely broken. Now, his father, Dexter Carter, a Seminoles alum and Super Bowl champion, has criticized Florida State for keeping his son on the practice field for a full week, even though he had complained of pain from an injury.

“For 7 days Devin didn’t make me aware of his injury and was fighting through it because he was made to practice every day while sharing the extreme pain he was having,” Dexter shared on Instagram on Saturday. “He showed diminished performance because of the pain he was experiencing. He shared this with the right people, but it was seen as well.”

The trouble began during an early August scrimmage when Devin was wearing a yellow no-contact jersey while recovering from bruised ribs. According to his father, Devin leaped for a pass and took a hard hit from a safety, sending him crashing into the knee of another defender. Carrying the heavy expectation of being a second-generation Seminole, Devin kept pushing until the pain became unbearable to hide.

“I finally was able to talk to Devin and immediately addressed it (against his wishes),” he wrote in the caption. “The next day he got the X-Ray requested and it was discovered he had been practicing for 7 days while complaining and reporting his extreme pain and lack of ability to sleep that he had completely broken the L2 & L3 (bone that stick out from his vertebrae) “Lumbar Transverse Process fracture”. I was very upset that he had been practicing after expressing the pain he was experiencing.”

Initial X-rays showed Devin had been practicing for seven days with broken L2 and L3 transverse processes. Follow-up MRI and bone scans revealed an even worse reality: fractures extending from his L1 all the way to his L4 vertebrae.

This ordeal lasted for several weeks, from the beginning of August until August 23. Even with his fractures, Devin was cleared to play. According to Dexter, Devin was not once “listed on an injury report nor mentioned in interviews that he was injured.”

Dexter Carter made his son’s struggles public for a specific reason: to protect Devin from being labeled injury-prone. He wants to avoid any negative press around his son and save him from a narrative that has clouded one of his son’s teammates.

“I didn’t want Devin to be spoken of the way Javon Boggs is in terms of being injury prone,” he said before praising him. “Javon is an excellent player and unfortunately has had early injuries.”

Devin Carter, who attended Douglas County High School in Georgia, joined Florida State as part of the class of 2026. The true freshman wide receiver had initially committed to Auburn, but later flipped to the Noles to continue his father’s legacy at the program.

No update on Devin Carter’s return

According to FSU on SI, Dexter Carter wrote, “He will be back,” about Devin’s return to the Seminoles. He has deleted that post since then. 

There is no clarity yet on the timeline for Devin’s recovery and rehab. The incident reflects poorly on Mike Norvell, who only shared that the freshman will be absent from this weekend’s game. 

“Right now, we’ll have a couple guys that we’ll just see as it continues to progress,” SI reported him saying on August 30. “I think I mentioned earlier in the week, Devin Carter has been slowed due to injury. He’d probably be one that is unavailable this week.”

Norvell is in his seventh season as FSU head coach. The head coach has a lot riding on the 2026 campaign after back-to-back disappointing campaigns.