ATHENS, Ga. – Lorenzo Carter was not ready for last season to end.
After breaking into Georgia’s starting lineup in early November, the 6-foot-6, 242-pound outside linebacker became a weekly defensive menace. Carter saved his best for last, racking up a team-high eight tackles and collecting a sack in the 37-14 thumping of Louisville at the Belk Bowl.
“I definitely wanted to keep going, and I feel like everybody did,” Carter said. “We ended with a good win, and we just wanted to keep winning. Another season is coming, but it’s not coming fast enough.”
Carter arrived from the Atlanta suburb of Norcross with plenty of hype, having been rated the No. 20 prospect nationally in the 2014 signing class by Rivals.com and the No. 23 prospect by 247Sports.com. He had a decent start to his freshman year, collecting a fumble against South Carolina and a sack at Missouri, but it was the inaugural start at Kentucky that turned the ignition.
In the 63-31 throttling of the Wildcats, Carter tallied nine tackles, 3.5 for loss, and 2.5 sacks, an effort for which he was named the Southeastern Conference defensive lineman of the week.
Carter finished the year with 41 tackles, seven for loss, and 4.5 sacks, but there was work to be done despite his desire to extend the season. Harassing quarterbacks had been his specialty, but once Carter began reviewing his performances, he realized he had a long way to go in stopping the run.
“He’s figured out that the film doesn’t lie,” Georgia second-year defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt said. “That’s one thing he’s got to focus on to be a complete football player. He’s got the ability to rush the quarterback, but he’s got to learn to play the run, and that comes with age and experience.
“The first thing you’ve got to do is realize your deficiencies to fix them, and I think that’s something that he understands.”
Despite Georgia’s easy win in Lexington, the Bulldogs allowed 214 rushing yards. Georgia allowed a staggering 418 rushing yards in a surprising loss to Florida the week before, and it allowed 399 to Georgia Tech’s triple-option in an overtime loss to close the regular season.
Georgia limited Auburn to a surprisingly low 150 rushing yards in another late game and blanketed Louisville in Charlotte, holding the Cardinals to 62 yards on 27 carries.
“The thing that I want to focus on is consistency and doing things over and over and over again,” Pruitt said. “There were some times last year where we played the way we wanted to play, and there were some times during the year where we were like a roller coaster. We’ve got to fix that.”
Said Carter: “Playing the run was my main focus this spring and this summer. When we had our end-of-the-year evaluations, the coaches let me know pretty clear what I needed to work on.”
The Bulldogs began preseason camp with Carter, Jordan Jenkins and Leonard Floyd as three quality outside linebackers, but Pruitt has spent most of this month moving Floyd inside and to the “star” position in the secondary in nickel packages. Carter thinks the difference he has in knowledge and experience compared to a year ago is drastic, adding he now loves telling the younger players what to do.
Carter knows he will be playing a position that can rack up plenty of sacks, but he also wants to be just as feared against the run.
“I always expect a lot out of myself,” he said. “I expect more out of myself than I probably should, but if you shoot for the stars and land on the moon, that’s still pretty good.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.