Tennessee senior linebacker Arion Carter won’t disclose an exact amount he wants to donate to cancer research this Saturday, when the No. 14 Volunteers welcome No. 1 Texas to Neyland Stadium.
He was, however, happy to talk in generalities during Tuesday’s news conference.
“A lot of money,” Carter said smiling. “A lot.”
The 6-foot-1, 238-pounder from the Nashville suburb of Smyrna is donating $427 for every tackle he makes this season, with the $427 reflecting what he paid an agent at the start of the year for a flight to attend an NFL training session before he decided to return to college. Carter repaid the $427 to the agent, but the NCAA viewed the transaction as a Level III violation and suspended him for the Sept. 5 season opener against Furman.
Carter tallied eight tackles in each of the past two weekends against Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State, resulting in a donation of $3,416 per game. Because one of his tackles last Saturday night was a sack, that resulted in an added $500 donation, so his total donation so far is $7,332.