Georgia Tech wide receiver Malachi Carter made one of the plays of the season Saturday night against North Carolina, bringing in a pass from quarterback Jeff Sims for a 27-yard touchdown reception in the Yellow Jackets’ 45-22 win over the Tar Heels at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Throwing from a clean pocket, Sims lofted a pass down the left sideline into the end zone, where Carter turned and leapt for the ball against tight coverage from Kyler McMichael, landing just inside the field of play for the touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
The remarkable aspect of the catch — that Carter was able to touch his right foot inbounds a fraction of a second before his knee landed on the sideline — was entirely intentional, he said afterward in a well-detailed explanation of the highlight-reel play.
“Believe it or not, it wasn’t luck,” Carter said. “When I caught the ball, I was still on top of the DB. I’m sure you guys saw that. So I’m still on top of the DB and I have the ball secured, I’m looking down and I’m like, Man, I’m kind of drifting into the out of bounds. So my first instinct is just left (actually right) foot, point the toe. Like, kind of like a ballerina, I kind of just pointed my toe out. That’s why, (when) I got up, I didn’t celebrate. I’m looking at the ref until I watched him put his hands up. And right when he did it, that’s when I celebrated because I really didn’t know if I scored it or not. I knew what I tried to do, but then when they reviewed it, I wasn’t surprised. And when I saw it on the review, I was like, Wow. That’s kind of cool.”
Credit: ACC
It was Carter’s seventh career touchdown at Tech, more than a few of which have been memorable, particularly his catch from quarterback James Graham against Virginia in 2019 and his reception at Florida State in the 2020 season opener, Sims’ first career touchdown pass.
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