Kirby Smart quick to congratulate Jalen Carter on draft selection
It didn’t take long for Kirby Smart to chime in on the first Georgia player off the board on Thursday night, with the head coach offering his congratulations to defensive lineman Jalen Carter.
“Jalen!! The Eagles are lucky to have you. Super happy for you and proud of you. You’ve come a long way since your first day in Athens, and I know that tonight is a dream come true. Looking forward to watching you dominate of Sundays. GO DAWGS!!,” Smart tweeted upon Carter’s selection by the Philadelphia Eagles at the No. 9 spot in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Kirby Smart’s congratulations follows earlier defense of Jalen Carter
Smart offered full-throated support of Carter earlier in the day during an interview on ESPN’s First Take on Thursday morning.
“They’ve asked a lot of questions and we’ve received a lot of calls in regards to Jalen because those teams want to do their due diligence,” Smart said during the appearance on Thursday morning. “They call and ask questions, and I tell them the same thing. This is a guy who didn’t have to play this year after getting injured in the first game, he got injured again after he came back and he stuck it out with his teammates.”
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“The guy cares about his teammates. His teammates love Jalen. He played extremely hard. Yeah, I know he had some mistakes off the field, but to be honest with you, it’s hard to find any players that age that haven’t had mistakes,” Smart continued. “I’m really proud of the way Jalen competes. He’s going to make an unbelievable NFL football player. I’m excited to see him tonight. I know he’s excited. He’s waited for a long time for this opportunity.”
Carter as a Georgia senior
“Carter finished the season with 32 tackles including 7.0 for loss, all of which came in a five-game stretch after returning to full strength. During that dominant stretch, Carter earned Bednarik Award Player of the Week for his performance in Georgia’s win over then-top-ranked Tennessee with two sacks and two forced fumbles. He then followed that up with a career-high seven stops in Georgia’s SEC East clinching win at Mississippi State. He also had a pair of tackles for loss in the SEC Championship Game win over LSU.
Carter earned unanimous All-American honors in 2022 being named to the first-team by the Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp Foundation and Sporting News. He is one of just 13 players in Georgia program history to earn that title, doing so alongside Christopher Smith this past season.”
