Charles grew up in New Orleans until his family was displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, living in Houston, Valdosta, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama, before settling in Jackson, Mississippi.

[2][3] A 4-star recruit according to rivals.com, Charles committed to play college football at LSU over offers from Florida, Memphis, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Tennessee, among others.

[4][5] Charles played in all 13 of the Tigers' games with nine starts as a true freshman in 2017 and was named to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) All-Freshman team.

Despite taking reps in training camp at offensive tackle, the team started him at left guard replacing Wes Martin, who had struggled in first five games as the starter.

[14] Charles left the game in the first quarter due to a dislocated knee cap,[15] and was placed on injured reserve on October 24, 2020, ending his rookie season.

[27][28] He was awarded the starting right guard position at the beginning of training camp, but Charles unexpectedly retired from football just a few days later for unknown reasons.