Beyond the Orange: Arion Carter

Tennessee junior linebacker Arion Carter just wrapped up his third season on Rocky Top. He detailed his season and more on this week’s edition of Beyond the Orange sponsored by Knoxville Smiles.

“Honestly just wearing that Power T on my chest and represent the name, the brand of Tennessee football and doing it at the highest level possible,” Carter said about what he is proud of. “When I got here I wanted to make the guys that came before me proud and carry on the legacy that they brought. As far as all the great VFL’s in terms of having a lot of great defensive VFL’s with Leonard Little, Al Wilson, Jerod Mayo and Raynoch Thompson. Seeing guys like that before you that set the standard for what you want to do here and me being able to go emulate that is what I’m most proud of.”

Carter has battled double turf toe in both of his big toes the back part of the season but has pushed through the pain.

“It’s kind of crazy how it happened,” Carter said. “It happened back to back games. It’s crazy how fast things can go sideways for you with how I was trending and how I am on the season. Getting through this injury just takes time and healing. I was only able to control the controllables.”

Tennessee Football dropped six spots to No. 24 in the Coaches Poll on Sunday, following the 45-24 loss to Vanderbilt Saturday at Neyland Stadium, and dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25.

Tennessee received 71 votes in the AP Top 25, the most votes among unranked teams. 

The Vols (8-4, 4-4 SEC) were ranked No. 18 in both the Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25 last week, after a 31-11 road win at Florida.

Carter and the Vols started the season at No. 18 in the preseason Coaches Poll and No. 25 in the preseason AP Top 25. The Vols climbed as high as No. 11 in both polls after a 5-1 start to the season, before the loss at Alabama in October.