ATHENS – It will go down as one of the most iconic moments in Georgia football history.
In the grand scheme of things, Jalen Carter’s sack of LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels with 2:11 remaining in the first half of Saturday’s SEC Championship wasn’t overly meaningful to the outcome of the game. It did contribute to it, as all plays do. But it didn’t necessarily fling momentum wildly to the Bulldogs’ side.
No, but what Carter did at the end of that play -- when he dead-lifted Daniels off the ground with his left arm, then raised his right hand to the sky to flash the No. 1 sign – instantly became a symbol for everything that is Georgia football for the moment.
It happened in a flash in real time. Many spectators missed the moment when it happened. Thanks to the slow-motion replay of the CBS Sports broadcast and the clicking shutters of dozens of professional photographers chronicling Saturday night’s game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the image of Carter hoisting Daniels as if he was a prize as a defeated LSU lineman helplessly looks on has been preserved for perpetuity.
By Sunday, it was going viral on social media.
The image could be found in timelines on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter under all sorts of witty captions and fashioned into a variety of memes. It almost certainly will be make its way onto T-shirts by early this week. After that, drawings and paintings will soon follow.
It’s the stuff Name, Image and Likeness was created for.
But Saturday night, after the Bulldogs’ 50-30 win over LSU, it was just another example of Jalen Carter being Jalen Carter to his coaches and teammates.
“Yeah, I’ve seen players do that and they usually didn’t end well,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They usually don’t have the restraint. I told him, I said, ‘You proved to a lot of people that there’s a thought process and great restraint to keep from doing something dumb.’ It showed great discipline on his part to not do anything.”
At that point, nobody in the postgame interview room realized that Carter had flashed the No. 1 sign at the top his lift. It was a brilliant act of self-marketing. Carter, unfortunately, was unavailable to explain whether it was a premeditated or spontaneous act.
Despite being the single-best player on Georgia’s team – and maybe on any team – Carter generally isn’t made available for interviews. His last availability was this past April.
In the moment Saturday, Smart was just glad Carter staved off any impulse he might’ve had to throw Daniels the Tigers’ already-injured quarterback to the ground.
“We had a penalty in this (stadium) early in the year,” Smart said, referring to the Oregon game on Sept. 3. “I think it was Kamari (Lassiter) on a – I don’t know if you call it a body-to-body suplex tackle – but you don’t do that. I’ve just got a lot of respect for Jalen to not do that.”
Lassiter, a starting cornerback for the Bulldogs, was flagged for unnecessary roughness when he threw down Oregon running back Noah Whittington to the ground after lifting him in the air on a tackle.
Carter’s lift, by contrast, was somewhat obscured from view in a crowded pocket as defeated LSU offensive linemen Garrett Dellinger and Charles Turner helplessly surrounded the two principal parties. But fortunately for all involved, officials saw what was happening and blew their whistles, which Carter obeyed dutifully.
“You know, Jalen makes a big impact on the team, brings the energy on defense,” fellow defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse said. “He’s exciting to watch play; a very talented player.”
That was just one of numerous plays Carter would make Saturday night. The 6-foot-3, 300-pound junior defensive tackle from Apopka, Fla., finished with four tackles, a 5-yard loss on that sack, two tackles for loss and one pass break-up against the Tigers.
That performance was par for the course since Carter returned from injuries that kept him sidelined for the better part of six games in the middle of the season. Carter sprained an ankle on the very first play from scrimmage against Oregon, but played on. After finally returning to full-speed action against Missouri in Game 5, he suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain when he was victimized on a unflagged chop block in the first half.
Carter came back to play third downs only against Florida. He was pressed into fully-active duty the next week against Tennessee and has been overwhelming opponents since. He has averaged 4.7 tackles in the five games since with three sacks and seven tackles for loss.
The NFL is taking notice. Carter was listed No. 3 in Dane Brugler’s first mock draft, released last week.
Georgia is just thankful to have Carter healthy for the postseason run. The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (13-0) are set to take on No. 4 Ohio State (11-1) in the College Football Playoff’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl semifinal on Dec. 31. Like it was against LSU, the Bulldogs’ defensive objective will be to put pressure on the Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Smart was asked if he’d ever seen Carter do any such thing in Georgia’s practices.
“We don’t let him do that to Stetson, otherwise Stetson would be in pieces,” Smart joked.
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