Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter, a top prospect in the upcoming draft, has had questions emerge from an off-field automobile incident that resulted in formal charges and, not long thereafter, a no-contest plea to misdemeanor racing and reckless driving charges.
In the other car, two individuals crashed and perished.
Via the New York Post, bodycam video from the scene includes Carter denying that he was racing.
“Were you racing to Waffle House?” an officer asked Carter. “Because I can tell you right now by looking at the damage on that car they were moving.”
“I wasn’t racing,” Carter said.
Carter later can be heard speaking on his phone to someone who called while he was being questioned.
“I feel like he is trying to get something out of this or something,” Carter said.
“I’m not trying to get anything out of you,” the officer replied. “I am just trying to find out how this happened and what you saw of it.”
The impact on Carter’s draft stock remains to be seen. To complicate matters, he reportedly struggled at his Pro Day workout, the pre-draft equivalent of flunking an open-book, take-home exam.
As the draft approaches, it remains to be seen whether and to what extent it hurts him. One dynamic is always true. Teams that secretly want him will traffic in rumors that he’s dropping, so that they might be able to get him. Likewise, teams that don’t want him will push the idea that all is well, so that a team drafting higher burns a pick on him, pushing a more desirable prospect farther down the board.