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Georgia Bulldogs defensive lineman Jalen Carter is facing adversity prior to the NFL draft. The top-rated defensive tackle is in a bad situation that involves the death of a Georgia teammate and scout member.
On January 15, 2023, teammate Devin Alex Willock and staff member Chandler Louise LeCroy were killed during a vehicular accident.
On March 1, 2023, an arrest warrant was put out for Carter and his involvement in the situation. He turned himself in and was charged with reckless driving. He was released on bond 16 minutes later.
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Former NFL head coach Mike Smith of the Atlanta Falcons spoke with Reggie Roberts of Sportskeeda's "Ballfather" podcast and talked about how he would address the Jalen Carter situation.
Smith reckoned that he would ask the prospect to tell him what happened and would take in everything that he is saying.
"Tell me what happened. It's really simple. And also listen to the young man and take in what he said and and compare it to the other information that's out there. You know, it was a tragic situation. Some poor decisions obviously were made that evening. But you have to sit down and you have to find out and dig because Everybody is in control wanted to control the narrative.
"The universe wants to control the narrative. The NFL wants to control their narrative. The agent wants to control the narrative for the kid. So there's going to be a lot of things that are out there and on different mediums."
Smith added that talking to him one-on-one would give a team a better understanding of the situation than what they are hearing and seeing in the news.
"Who knows? You have an opportunity to sit down with the player and have a conversation, eye to eye. Tell me what happened. That would be the conversation that I would want to have.
"And if it's a legal situation, yes. You would probably also want to have a conversation with his representation because they'll be able to give you a lot more insight than what you're reading in the Atlanta Constitution Journal or on the Georgia Bulldog website or wherever you're consuming your information."
Carter reacted to the news on March 1 with a message on Twitter claiming he expects to be fully exonerated of any criminal wrongdoing.
Looking back at Jalen Carter's career at Georgia
Jalen Carter had a tremendous career at the University of Georgia. The 6'3, 300-pound defensive tackle recorded 30 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and three pass deflections in 2022 and was named a unanimous All-American.
In 2021, as a sophomore, he recorded 37 tackles and three sacks. He's set to become another Georgia defensive lineman to go into the first-round if his draft stock doesn't fall too drastically due to his ongoing investigation. Before the incident arose, he was pegged to be a top-five pick and potentially go number one overall.
