DETROIT (10/19/2025) -- They say that college can change your life, and in the last few years, things have certainly changed for University of Detroit Mercy junior Ayden Carter. 

It was just a few years ago that he was a star at Fremont Ross High School in Ohio, playing basketball, football, soccer, and tennis. Basketball is where he shined, tallying over 23.0 points and leading the conference in scoring en route to being named First Team All-Trac, All-Ohio Honor, and to the BSCN Team, among other accolades. He netted over 1,000 career points, and off the court, he was a member of the National Honor Society.

Even with all that, his recruiting garnered no Division I offers. 

"Coming out of high school, I was in a tricky situation," said Carter. "I was at a small D1 school in a big conference. I was the leading scorer, but I didn't receive any D1 offers out of high school. I had a lot of D2s, some of the top D2s in the NCAA, like West Liberty, Cal PA, but I chose to go to Walsh. It was the best fit for me at the time."

In his two years at Walsh, he recorded 11.2 points and 4.3 rebounds, shooting 46.2% from the field and 80.4% at the free-throw line. As a freshman, he played in all 30 games, averaging 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds for a team that won the G-MAC and made the NCAA Tournament. Last season, he led the squad at 19.0 points, was second with 5.7 rebounds, and third with 1.7 assists, netting double figures in 19 of his 20 games and posting eight 20-point outings. After the season, he chose to look at some of his other options. 

"I found my way to Detroit navigating the portal process," said Carter. "I felt from the first time I talked with coach Monty that it just felt like a great relationship. I visited here, and it felt like home, that place where I wanted to be."

After playing at a high level in high school and what he accomplished at Walsh, Carter is out to prove that those coaches who doubted him were wrong. 

"I've been a Division I player since my junior year of high school, but it just didn't work out that way for me. But absolutely, I have a big chip on my shoulder to show that my game is worthy to be on this level and that I can do big things on this stage too," added Carter. 

Another thing that Carter has in his corner is his faith, something that has grown tremendously in the last couple of years and led him to become an ordained minister with his church, Path2Life Ministries, earlier this year in his hometown. 

"I always grew up Christian, but I really dove really deep into my faith about a year ago," said Carter. "I had an encounter with God, and he changed my life, and now I just live fully for the Lord Jesus. I just want to be able to spread the gospel by my lifestyle and just to any person I can, however I can. I took on bigger roles in my church, and I just showed that the Lord had called me into ministry and gave trial sermons. I then took on more roles and, ultimately, was elevated to becoming ordained as a minister."

At Detroit Mercy, Carter is not only trying to expand his faith, but he will also look to show the Titan faithful what kind of player he can be. 

"I'm a player who just wants to win," said Carter. "Anything the team needs out of me, I'll be able to provide. I'll be that guy to guard, run a transition, shoot the three, and get downhill. Just whatever the team needs and give my all for the guys. Once you give your life to God, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and it's not an on-off switch. So I'm able to show on the court that I can love God, I can have my faith boldly, and still be an aggressive, tough, physical player on the court. You don't have to choose one over the other."

Carter has been with the team since the summer, practicing hard, and with the season almost here, he has seen this team continue to grow and improve every day. 

"We've grown in a multitude of ways. I think that our team chemistry is really high. We're able to stay locked in. We're knocking down shots. We're definitely in great shape. We're able to run, play at a high pace, how coach Monty wants us to play, and I think we've taken a lot of great leaps. It's going to be exciting," said Carter.