Carmichael Comes Home to Roam CSUN Secondary : College football: Former Granada Hills High defensive back transfers to Northridge for his senior season.

Kevin Carmichael has come home, just a few blocks from the place he enjoyed the most glory-filled days of his football career.

Carmichael, the defensive captain of the 1987 Granada Hills High team that upset Carson in the City Section 4-A Division football championship game, has transferred from Bethune-Cookman to Cal State Northridge where he will play his senior season for the Matadors.

Northridge Coach Bob Burt confirmed Wednesday that Carmichael, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound safety, had enrolled and was lifting weights with other team members.

Burt has not seen Carmichael play, but he said, “Right now, I’d say he might break into the starting lineup. He’s a good player.”

Carmichael played one season at Bethune-Cookman after signing with the Daytona Beach, Fla., school out of Valley College.

Mark Banker, Northridge’s defensive coordinator, said Carmichael will play either the “tight” or “open” safety positions, both of which have deep-coverage responsibilities but have different coverage and formation calls to make.

Eric Treibatch, a starter at the open position last season, is set to return for his junior season. The Matadors also have Troy Thomas, a part-time starter, and reserve Cedric Ingram returning at safety, as well as Gerald Ponders, a recruit from Riverside City College.

Darryl Stroh, who coached Carmichael at Granada Hills, is confident that the former Highlander secondary standout will fit in somewhere.

“He’s got probably the greatest instinct to the ball of any player I’ve ever coached,” Stroh said. “He was the key to our defense.”

As a senior at Granada Hills, Carmichael had four interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown against Carson to help the Highlanders to a 27-14 upset in the City final.

“Right now I don’t know where he’ll be at,” Banker said. “But I can tell by just talking to him and being around him that he’s a player. He has good football smarts. He thinks like a player. He has the intangibles you can’t teach.”