Jalen Carter injured on 'dirty play' per Georgia teammate
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia will very likely be without the services of All-American defensive tackle Jalen Carter when it takes on Auburn this Saturday. It could be without him longer than that according to Kirby Smart, who said that Carter will miss one to two weeks with a sprained MCL.
Jalen Carter went down in the first quarter of the Missouri game after a low block. Carter was engaged with Tiger right guard Mitchell Walters when right tackle Connor Wood lunged to the inside and his helmet impacted the outside of Carter’s left knee.
Wood also seemed to be grabbing at the left leg of Jalen Carter, who immediately fell to the turf. Carter tried to limp off the field after the play but had to be attended to by the Georgia medical staff before being helped to the sideline.
UGA HC Kirby Smart says Jalen Carter is dealing with an MCL sprain “and it could be a week or two” pic.twitter.com/dcQ6XUtBWE
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) October 3, 2022
“Personally, I might be biased when I say this, but yes,” fourth-year junior nose tackle Zion Logue said when asked whether it was an illegal chop block or not. “But we can’t really go back and do anything about it now. It’s one of those things we can’t really control so just got to keep playing… I feel like it was a dirty play a little bit but we can’t control that.”
Jalen Carter has had a rough go of it in 2022. He was named All-American and All-SEC prior to the season as the lone primary holdover from a dominant Georgia defensive line in 2021. Carter sustained an ankle injury in Georgia’s 49-3 win over Oregon to start the season and played roughly the same amount of snaps in the following three weeks that he did against the Ducks.
Kirby Smart told reporters last week that Carter had come a long way in overcoming that ankle injury, indicating that he was close to recapturing his full form. Then came the incident on Saturday.
Most NFL Draft analysts view Jalen Carter as a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Some have him going as high as the top five. Whether or not his early season injuries will impact his draft prospects depends on how quickly he is able to return and how well he plays once he does.
Logue was much more free with his words on Carter’s injury than Smart. The seventh-year head coach was asked multiple times to share his thoughts on the block but chose not to risk stirring the pot.
“I talked to the official during the play,” Smart said on Monday. “He felt comfortable about what the play was. We talked about it before the game. They have a lot of backside cuts. Auburn, a lot of teams use the same methods. I’m hopeful that we can keep our players safe, do what is within the limits of the game and the rules, but that’s not for me to decide. Jalen is going to be a week or two. Not sure, it’s MCL like expected. We don’t know how long it’s going to be, but doesn’t look good for this week.”
