Kirby Smart commends restraint, discipline of Jalen Carter

Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter is one of the most menacing physical presences in the country, which he put on display during the Bulldog’s 50-30 win over LSU in the SEC Championship game on Saturday. The 6-foot-3, 300-pound Carter sacked Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels in dominant fashion, lifting him up with one arm while using his other to celebrate. Head coach Kirby Smart spoke about Carter’s viral, highlight play, highlighting something unexpected about the moment.

“I’ve seen players do that and they usually didn’t end well, they usually don’t have the restraint,” Smart said. “And 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’.”

Carter lifting the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Daniels was certainly physically impressive, but so was his discipline to not finish the play forcefully, which would’ve likely led to a penalty. Smart explained how that same level of restraint has not always been present for Georiga’s defense this season, using a play from defensive back Kamari Lassiter as an example.

“It showed great discipline on his part to not do anything, we had a penalty in this game early in the year, I think it was Kamari on a, I don’t know if you call it, a body-to-body suplex tackle, and you don’t do that,” Smart said.

Carter made his presence felt on Saturday, adding two tackles for loss and a pass break up to his stat line along with his sack. He’s come on strong for the Bulldogs after his season started off riddled with injury, suffering an ankle injury in the very first play of their opener versus Oregon, followed by a sprained MCL against Missouri.

His impact has been crucial in UGA’s defensive success, but his punishment on quarterbacks has been limited to just Saturdays, as Smart joked about what would happen if Carter was fully unleashed at practice against Bulldog’s quarterback Stetson Bennett.

“I just got a lot of respect for Jalen to not do that, unfortunately we don’t let him do that to Stetson otherwise Stetson would be in pieces,” Smart joked.

It’s good that Bennett has been kept out of harm’s way at practice, as he had a phenomenal performance for Georgia in their biggest game of the season. Bennett had a season-high four touchdown passes on Saturday, completing 79% of his throws, as he and Carter now have their eyes set on their semifinal playoff matchup versus Ohio State on December 31.