Todd McShay Sheds Light on Jalen Carter's Football Character
ESPN Draft Analyst Todd McShay made waves a few months back when he called into question the character of first-round prospect Jalen Carter. Saying that Carter had "character issues" and would be a hot-button name as the draft process continues until April.
Since then, Carter has indeed become a hot-button name in this draft. He's now put all of the law proceedings behind him from his involvement in the racing invent on the tragic night of January 15th that resulted in the loss of two Georgia football family members.
As Carter draft stock continues to be evaluated, plenty of people are trying to get to the root of the personal character of Jalen Carter. Who he is as a person, outside of football, something that McShay called into question with sourced intel. Now, McShay has gone on the record with his thoughts on the football character of Jalen Carter.
What does the available information say about Jalen Carter the football player? Well, he will play his a** off for you according to McShay. McShay spoke with Ryen Russillo on The Ringer's Ryen Russilo Podcast.
"And the other thing is like with Jalen, specifically, I've spent 95% of my time talking about how great of a player he is on the field. I even emphasize, like, yeah, you might not get in practice what you want to get in practice. But that dude will play his a** off for you."
Jalen Carter lifts Jayden Daniels up during Georgia's SECCG game win over LSU / Photo by UGAA
McShay would go on to remind people that Jalen Carter suffered a rather serious high-ankle sprain in the middle of his final season in Athens, and worked hard to return to action for his team.
"There's also something to be said for this. He got an ankle injury and missed a couple games in the middle of the season. He's going to be top-five pick at that point, right? He doesn't shut it down. And people will say, Well, we he who wouldn't want to go for a national championship. And of course, he's not going to shut it down. Well, Jackson, Smith-Njiba was going for a national championship."
McShay would go on to say it's not about Smith-Njigba, it's more about the fact that Carter came back and played some of his best football to date.
"And so my point is, and I'm not I'm not digging to Jackson Smith and Jigna. He's a great player and he's in I think he's going to be like a big first-round pick and go on to do great things. My point is Jalen Carter from the football character perspective when it comes to like wanting to be their first team and all that he chose not to shut it down. He came back and in fact, he played his best football."
