BENTONVILLE -- Carson Little carries a big load when it comes to the "student" part of being a student-athlete.
Bentonville High's senior center handles the classroom workload with the same dedication that he displays on the football field.
At A Glance
CARSON LITTLE
SCHOOL Bentonville High
CLASS Senior
POSITION Center
HEIGHT 5-9
WEIGHT 220
NOTABLE Earned the starting role during spring drills and is the leader on the Tigers’ offensive line. … Can play the drums, bass, guitar, trombone, trumpet and keyboard. … Is in his second year of the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program, where his class load is full with IB and advanced placement classes. … Wants to go to college at Texas A&M next fall.
Little is even more than a student-athlete. He is also an accomplished musician, and he is heavily involved in the school's International Baccalaureate (IB) program -- a rarity among Bentonville's athletes.
His biggest obstacle is finding the time to do it all, and that hasn't been much of a problem, either.
"I'm lucky that the music, the studies and the football doesn't conflict that much," Little said. "And when they do, it's just communication. The biggest thing is staying organized, I guess.
"A lot of these times, I have this drive to try to be better than everybody else. I know it sounds narcissistic, but I feel comfortable like that."
That kind of organizational skills have carried over to Bentonville's football team, and that's why he is the leader on the Tigers' offensive line this fall. Little (5-foot-9, 220 pounds) took the time during the offseason to set up a text messaging system so he can keep his fellow offensive linemen updated on what's going on.
He even took it upon himself to provide all of his linemen colleagues with notepads so they can take notes while watching game film and studying their opponents.
"His intelligence goes over on the football field," Bentonville offensive coordinator Aaron Danenhauer said. "He makes all of our calls, so he's our leader out there and does a great job with that.
"He's not the biggest guy out there, but he's worked his tail off to get to where he is. He's probably one of our better offensive linemen right now."
Little also makes it a point to prove any doubters wrong whenever necessary. That kind of attitude started in his middle school days, when he tried out for the drum line in the band.
He was later told by the band director he didn't make it and was instead placed on trombone, which is what he played until the ninth grade. Not only does he now play the drums, but he can play the guitar, bass, trumpet and even a little on the keyboard -- even though he admits it's not his favorite instrument.
"It's just about whatever I can pick up and figure it out," Little said. "I got into drums because my neighbor, and his brother played guitar. Both of them took lessons, and every time I would go to their house I would go wail on his drum kit. I fell in love with it.
"I got my first drum kit when I was 9, and I probably picked up my guitar the year after that, learning how to play it by using a video game called Rocksmith. When there's a song that I want to play and it has an instrument I want to figure out, I'll see one lying around and mess with it."
Little definitely doesn't mess around when it comes to his academics. While some student-athletes will take the International Baccalaureate classes through high school, they don't normally go through the entire IB program because of the dedication involved.
Little, however, is in his second year of the school's IB program, and he is taking a full load of IB and advanced placement classes this semester. He became the first Bentonville football player to go through the program in seven years and, because of his commitment to the program, he will earn a second diploma when he graduates in May.
"The first thing I want do in the interview process is take a look at what courses he's taking," said Bentonville IB director Derek Miller, who has been in the program since the school started it 10 years ago. "He was already taking advanced courses and already taking an accelerated load.
"He also showed an enthusiasm for wanting to take on more of an academic challenge. I took him through what his two years would look like doing the program, and all through it he's been excited about it, understood it and really wanted to do it. That was consistently shown as he went through his junior year and got into the courses he was taking. His enthusiasm hasn't waned."
Sports on 09/01/2017