Before his NFL career, Carson played college football for Willie Jeffries at South Carolina State University from 1972 to 1975, not missing a single game in four years.

In 1975, he was a first-team selection on the AFCA College-Division All-America team and set school records with 117 tackles and 17 sacks.

[citation needed] He retired at the end of the 1988 season, two years after helping the team win Super Bowl XXI, the Giants' first, and Carson had seven tackles for the victors.

The practice was started by his teammate Jim Burt in 1985[5] as Carson recounted in his 1987 book Point of Attack: The Defense Strikes Back.

Carson takes an aggressive stand when it comes to CTE and how the NFL handles their own ex-players that are struggling with head trauma later in their lives.

Carson was also part-owner of the Arena Football League's New Jersey Red Dogs, alongside ex-Giants Carl Banks and Joe Morris.

He currently co-hosts Giants 1st & 10 on Madison Square Garden Network with Bob Papa, Carl Banks and Howard Cross.

On May 17, 2015, Harry Carson served as the commencement speaker for New York University School of Professional Studies.

Two days later Carson served as the commencement speaker and was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The honor was bestowed upon Carson for his advocacy not only for his football brethren but for anyone who lives with the effects of a traumatic brain injury.

He was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome in 1990, and estimates that he had 15 concussions during his long high school, college and professional football career.

He was one of the first former professional athletes to share his own personal first hand experiences years before the long-term effects of concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), long before the subject became a "hot button" topic.

While Carson has acknowledged he has "managed" the long term effects of concussions he does not know if he has been affected by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

When asked, Carson is increasingly critical of the NFL and questions whether football should be played, as he believes the hazards of concussions and subconcussive hits are not an understood risk such as physical ailments are.

"[14] In 2012, Carson was said to be strongly considering a run for Congress against Republican Scott Garrett in the newly redrawn 5th congressional district of New Jersey.