Who is Jalen Carter? College Football is back and the NFL could still expect the best from Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs | NFL News

Jalen Carter of Georgia is expected to be a top pick in the NFL Draft next year

The NFL may not have welcomed the alpha of Georgia’s national championship-winning defense yet as Jalen Carter enters his junior year by scrolling the credentials of a top-five draft pick next April.

Alabama’s cutting-edge wonder Will Anderson Jr is widely considered a consensus No. talents, of Nick Saban, while his teammate Bryce Young joins the CJ from Ohio State. Stroud at the heart of the quarterback craze.

The stock of a Quinnen Williams-like Carter currently warrants similar clamor, perhaps second only to that of a Von Miller-like Anderson.

He’s not groundbreaking “men that big shouldn’t move that fast” in an age breeding cutting-edge athletes regardless of position, but his height-defying slyness at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds is stunning, unfair, and potentially of an exclusive caliber.

Georgia celebrated an NFL Draft record earlier this year when five Bulldogs defensemen were selected in the first round in Las Vegas. Defensive end Travon Walker went No. 1 overall for the Jacksonville Jaguars, followed by defensive tackle Jordan Davis at the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 13, linebacker Quay Walker at the Green Bay Packers at No. 22, tackle defensive Devonte Wyatt to the Packers at No. 28 and safety Lewis Cine to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 32. That doesn’t forget linebackers Nakobe Dean, long considered a first-round prospect, and Channing Tindall landing with the Eagles and Miami Dolphins in the third round, respectively.

Kirby Smart has bid farewell to the core of his dizzying, selfless but suffocating defense, and may well have the most gifted Operator of the lot at Carter’s disposal yet. It’s history.

“He was eclipsed in terms of maturity by the other two [Davis and Wyatt] – he has by no means been eclipsed in terms of talent,” Smart said this summer. “Because he is as talented or more athletically talented than those two. A very different guy from those two, but he’s matured.

“His training habits have actually improved this year. He’s been training more consistently and he needs to keep doing that. But he’s very mature in that he can admit you and be honest with you when he’s not trying hard. He’s like, ‘You’re right Coach, I haven’t done my best on this game.’ But it happens a lot less often now.”

Defensive tackle closed out 2021 well enough in a Georgia defense that created stat padding opportunities for all, totaling 37 tackles (17 solo) as well as 8.5 tackles for loss (the third most on the team ), three sacks, 33 quarterback pressures (second on the team), and two blocked kicks, including against Alabama for denying a field goal in the National Championship Game.

As ESPN’s Bill Connelly noted, versatile linebacker Dean recorded tackles on 11.4% of snaps while Carter made it on 11.7% of snaps at about 80 pounds heavier as a barrage. front line driver. Simply put, there should be a rule against so many.

Between all-time ferocity and a seamless transition between multiple assignments, he’s teased the ingredients to become the NFL’s simplest valuation team that NFL teams will face on the road to the 2023 Draft. .

Smart’s system was rooted in lineout flexibility that added to stunts, dummy and feint pressing, and latecomer A’s gap cups designed to create misdirection before and after the snap on the line melee.

Carter’s role within it saw him balancing inside work as a 3/2/2i-tech (outside/over/inside guard) or a 0/ 1-tech (over/outside center) with snaps as a stand-up 5-tech edge rusher of offensive tackle at times is the athleticism with which he graces the trenches.

Explosive first-step burst, lateral quickness turned into lean agility, and often unmatched power allow him to dictate blocking angles and slalom through arms when lined up as a 2 or 0 front tech at the interior. As much also contributes to his tendency to crab from the inside out on the break, whether as part of a stunt designed to generate guard/tackle traffic and clear a path for Walker or Dean strike, or simply to exploit his one-on-one turn and closing speed on the edge.

Jalen Carter fires Will Levis from Kentucky

This was showcased almost to perfection during a play in December’s loss to Alabama, with Carter creating immediate leverage with his hand placement at the snap of his fingers and using his flexibility to bend over. both around center and guard from a 1-tech off spot to open a gaping hole for Tindall, only for a quick-thinking Young to flash the ball out.

In Georgia’s season opener against Clemson, it was worth checking out that the footage wasn’t sped up when Carter, this time lined up on guard, bounced off his man, snuck in at inside and ran off to hit quarterback DJ Uiagalelei before he barely had time to run through his reads. It characterized the acceleration of closing space and play, while talking about the rapid transfer of weight on contact.

Vanderbilt running back Rocko Griffin is another who can attest to this after finding himself on the receiving end of a grimace-worthy Carter clothesline.

He has found great success with a kind of tilt and swim motion in which he trusts his planted, responsive power enough to force all of his weight onto the lineman at a slight side angle via his shoulder while pumping. her legs and stretching her arms. to run into the backfield.

His strong base is linked to agile body movements allowing him to similarly squat and leap across bodies with controlled footwork, although he is aware of the room for development in this regard being given the threat of losing leverage if the pad level is turned off.

Without being overly engaging or violent with his hands, which is likely becoming more of a factor this season, he already finds himself forcing the lineman to engage through his footwork or extension with a false header, movement phantom and a Euro Step technique that highlight its brilliance. -and-weave in all its glory.

Carter catches a fly ball in the second half of Georgia’s spring game

Carter played just 129 snaps against the run to 267 against the pass last season. You’d expect him to strike a more even balance as his responsibilities increase in 2022, but in a limited sample, evidence of lateral fluidity flourishing as a match to outside zone concepts and his arsenal from contact-cutting mauler-meets-mover, including regular double teams, to wrapping ball carriers while being choked or chasing down the sideline.

There were also examples of game identification in development, with reactive racing chases sometimes becoming instinctive forecasting.

The pad level could be more consistent, he could amplify supreme strength through extra hand use, and there are times when he loses his balance during that prominent outward leap – more because of his own frenetic urgency than to be maneuvered – but there is a lot of disruptive clobbering to be obsessed with.

The first step alone sometimes earns it reps; the hand and base power are of the highest level; the east-to-west liveliness and familiarity suit an NFL brimming with moving quarterbacks, wide-area plans, and range-dependent defenses; the conviction of his spear finish is the cherry flashpoint. Double shifts are necessary, yet unsuccessful.

He stands as the biggest, fastest and strongest man in any field, and can attest to unsung roles in many of Georgia’s 49 sacks this year with his body shoveling duties.

Now comes the test of playing without the Walkers, without Davis, without Wyatt, without Dean, without Tindall as Smart’s new known unit leader. Either way, he looks like he’s in the top five.