Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter is the consensus No. 1 prospect in the 2023 draft class, and the more you watch his tape, the more that’s clear. Carter is an absolute game-wrecker from every gap, and certainly on the field, you’re going to have to really try hard to find fault.
So, what some analysts and anonymous scouts like to do at that point is try to unearth alleged off-field stuff to make the process more “interesting.”
ESPN analyst Todd McShay did that in a circular way before the College Football Championship, in which Georgia thumped TCU, 65-7, with this bon mot:
“With Carter, there are some character issues. Does he get along with everybody? What’s he like to deal with in the locker room, those sorts of issues. I know it’s early in the process, but I’m forewarning everybody out there. Carter is going to be a hot-button name when we talk about some of the intangible aspects of it. I think Pete Carroll (and the Seattle Seahawks) at No. 2, who has a long of history taking guys with questionable character and then developing them and having them work out, that would make a lot of sense to me.
“That will be the big discussion. It’s not about his talent, his size or his explosive take off or finishing as a pass rusher, it’s about the character and do we want to bring that guy into the building.”
Well, Carter’s teammates were not at all happy about that speculation, and it turns out that Carter is as much a leader off the field. Weston Wallace was not entitled to free team lunches as a walk-on, which tells you one more thing about the NCAA’s byzantine policies. Carter, who used to go up against Wallace every day in practice before Wallace switched to the defensive line, found out about it, and he wasn’t going to let it continue, per Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
“Jalen heard about that,” Wallace told Feldman. “I’m the only walk-on in the defensive line room, and he goes, ‘I’m not gonna let that happen.’ So he used his scholarship money to pay for me to get lunch every single day.”
As far as the “character concerns,” Wallace said that those were out of line.
“You honestly don’t know the guy if you think that,” Wallace said. “You can ask anybody on the team, whether it’s the O-line that he bullies every day out there. … Everybody thinks he’s an all-around great guy, and I think he’ll be great for any team that picks him.”
“The blessings I have from being on a full ride, I just wanted to help, and that was taking care of a brother,” Carter told Feldman.
Per Georgia defensive line coach Trey Scott, Carter’s generosity started a chain of help from other scholarship players to other walk-ons.
“That started a wildfire with some of our good players [who benefit from name, image and likeness rules] picking different guys in their position group to make sure they’re good, so they can eat every time we eat, just like you’re a scholarship player,” Scott said. “No one told him to do that. The nutritionist informed me about it. Had she not told me, I wouldn’t have known about it. And that’s what I like about it.
“Everyone is gonna do their own research. People have different ways they take information. But I know how he is within our organization, and at the end of the day, I like for my guys to have a little edge, so where people may determine as ‘character issues’ may just be a guy who has a little edge that may be laid-back. Because like I tell him, as long as you know who you are, it doesn’t really matter. I said, guess what? You have an opportunity to prove who you are every single day. That’s why he’s been able to keep it moving.”
So, maybe it’s time for people to stop taking unproven shots at players who have proven their leadership abilities, and pay more attention to what the prospects bring to the game. If Jalen Carter or any other prospect has legitimate character concerns, by all means make them part of the discussion. But do it with proof, as opposed to ground-level speculation with no actual basis in fact, all in the name of looking as if you have a bit of news nobody else has.
In this case, the lack of traction for McShay’s allegations says a lot.
