Georgia defensive duo earns unanimous All-American status
The Georgia defensive duo of Jalen Carter and Christopher Smith joined rarefied air in Bulldog program history on Wednesday, becoming the 12th and 13th different players to be unanimous All-Americans. In total, Georgia has 15 with Herschel Walker doing so three times (1980, 1981 and 1982) and the pair of Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean being the most recent to do it in 2021.
Carter was one of the nation’s most dominant defensive linemen this season when he was on the field. The former five-star out of Apopka, Fla. battled a pair of injuries early in the season – first an ankle injury that he suffered in the season-opener against Oregon and then a knee injury against Missouri. He was able to play through the ankle injury, although in a limited capacity, before being sidelined two games for setback to his knee. However, since coming back Carter’s been a force to be reckoned with. Against Tennessee, Carter had a pair of sacks and a pair of forced fumbles, earning him Bednarik Player of the Week. One week later he had a career-high seven stops at Mississippi State as Georgia clinched the SEC East. Overall, all 7.0 of Carter’s tackles for loss have come in the last five games.
As for Smith, the star safety has been an important player on the back end of Georgia’s defense for several seasons now. He started off the season with an impressive outing against Oregon, being named SEC Defensive Player of the Week as he had an interception and six tackles. Smith picked off another pass against Kent State and recovered a fumble versus Vanderbilt before a season-high seven stops in Georgia’s rivalry win over Florida. Among those was a sack, one of 5.0 tackles for loss this season for Smith. He would go on to match the season-high for tackles at Kentucky and pick off a pass against LSU in the SEC Championship Game. That wasn’t his biggest contribution however, returning a blocked LSU field goal 96 yards for a touchdown, the first of the game for either team.
Georgia Football Unanimous All-Americans
1942 – Frank Sinkwich
1946 – Charley Trippi
1971 – Royce Smith
1980 – Herschel Walker
1981 – Herschel Walker
1982 – Herschel Walker
1992 – Garrison Hearst
2009 – Drew Butler
2012 – Jarvis Jones
2017 – Roquan Smith
2019 – Andrew Thomas
2021 – Jordan Davis
2021 – Nakobe Dean
2022 – Jalen Carter
2022 – Christopher Smith
Georgia takes on Ohio State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, a College Football Playoff semifinal this season, as the two teams square off for just the second time in history. The only other meeting came in the 1993 Citrus Bowl where Georgia won 21-14 behind a big day from Garrison Hearst.
UGA players wrap up final exams this week before having over two full weeks with nothing to worry about but football, including about a week on-site in Atlanta. Kickoff time from Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 31st is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe on the call.
