Tennessee gets a major defensive piece back Saturday night at Georgia Tech, and Arion Carter’s return brings a little extra edge with it.
Carter sat out the opener against Furman after serving a one-game NCAA suspension tied to a $427 flight from the pre-NFL draft process. The flight had been paid for, and after Carter decided to return to college, he paid it back in good faith. The NCAA still handed down the penalty, forcing him to miss Tennessee’s first game of the season.
The Vols managed just fine without him against the FCS opponent, but this trip to Atlanta is a different deal. Carter is expected to be back in the mix on defense, and his presence won’t go unnoticed.
That was clear from the way Tennessee teammate Nathan Robinson talked about him earlier this week.
“Oh, man,” Robinson said. “I’m scared. He’s motivated regardless, but, man, he’s fired up this week.”
Georgia Tech also knows exactly what Tennessee is getting back. Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key addressed Carter’s return on Thursday and made it plain how highly he views the linebacker.
“He’s one of the better players in the country at that position,” Key said. “He was out last week.
There’s plenty of game tape on him that we know what he can do and what he has done. He’s a leader on that team.
He’s a ball hawk. He’s as good of a linebacker as you’ll see anywhere in the country.
Anytime you get a player back that’s that talented and has that much experience on the team, it’s big.
“They’ve got depth, too. They have depth at that position.
Some of those guys came from Penn State with the defense coordinator, with Jim, and they know the scheme and they know the defense. I expect to see him out there, and I expect to see a lot of guys out there on the field along with him.
That way those guys play fresh as the game goes on, and that’s where we want to get to as well.”
Tennessee’s linebacker group could feature Carter, Amare Campbell, Edwin Spillman, Jeremiah Telander, Jadon Perlotte and possibly more on Saturday.
There’s another layer to Carter’s return, too. He’ll donate $427 for every tackle he makes this season to cancer research, using the same amount that sparked the suspension. He chose the cause because his girlfriend is currently battling cancer.
Kickoff in Atlanta is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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