Kirby Smart reveals who will be relied on after Jalen Carter's injury

The No. 2 Georgia defense suffered a significant blow in a narrow 26-22 win over Missouri over the weekend when a new Jalen Carter injury sidelined the star player for a second time this season.

Carter had previously suffered an ankle injury against Oregon, then suffered an MCL injury against the Tigers over the weekend.

“I hate it for Jalen as a guy that’s had a good two years, really talented,” coach Kirby Smart said. “The very first play of the year was when the ankle got injured. He played on adrenaline in the Oregon game and then struggled to get back. Then he got back and he really felt good. Different injury, it really didn’t have anything to do with the ankle.”

Carter was the superstar tasked with replacing 2021 behemoth Jordan Davis on the interior.

Playing banged-up most of this year, Carter had logged five tackles, seven quarterback hurries and a pass breakup while having a far big impact than showed up on the stat sheet. He’s expected to miss this week’s contest against Auburn, so the Bulldogs will be counting on some other players in his stead.

“The same ones, Jalen’s been out for a while, right?” Smart said. “(Nazir Stackhouse), (Zion Logue), Bear (Alexander), Bill Norton, Jonathan Jefferson, Warren Brinson. Those are the interior guys with an abundance of reps. Christen Miller will factor in that. All those guys.”

Jalen Carter injury reinforces ‘next man up’ mentality

Smart has long preached to his team it needs to embrace a ‘next man up’ mentality, and a second Jalen Carter injury only reinforced that.

You need to be ready when your number is called.

“Tough is the only way to put it, but it’s part of football and our mantra around here is next man up,” Smart said. “And we’ve had a lot of that with the inside players, with guys dinged up and banged up. Next man up and go play the snaps for him.”

Georgia has started the season 5-0 and will have a chance to improve to 7-0 prior to the team’s bye week on Oct. 22. Next up are home games against Auburn and Vanderbilt.

The Bulldogs and Tigers are slated for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday with a national broadcast on CBS.