LSU QB Jayden Daniels recalls being sacked by Jalen Carter in 2022 SEC Championship Game
LSU QB Jayden Daniels recalls being sacked by Jalen Carter in 2022 SEC Championship Game
NASHVILLE, TN. — LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels has not forgotten about being sacked by Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter in the 2022 SEC Championship Game.
Georgia was up 28-7 with under three minutes left in the first half when the former Bulldog and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman got to Daniels inside the pocket.
The 6-foot-3 and 314-pound lineman picked up the LSU signal-caller instead of taking him down to the ground. The play ultimately defined how the first half went for the Tigers.
Carter held Daniels up in one hand while the other displayed a No. 1 sign. Carter was credited with a five-yard sack and walked back toward the sideline still flashing his fingers.
“Jalen Carter is a great player. I mean, he got underneath me. I already had a bum ankle, so there wasn't really much I could do. He just lifted me up, and he just kept me in one hand,” Daniels told reporters on Monday at SEC Media Days. “After that point, it was just really nothing I could do with it. I was just worried about my ankle at that point because it was hurting a lot, but, you know, he is a great player. He made a big-time play.”
The moment went viral on social media, but it caught the eye of LSU wide receiver Josh Williams first. He remembered witnessing the display of the event firsthand on the field.
"I was just like is this guy carrying him? I was in shock. I was in denial a little bit. Is he really just holding him up?” Williams said Monday during an interview. “We just brushed it off. After the game, we were like, wow, he really held him up for a couple of seconds."
Daniels left the game after the sack with an ankle injury. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound quarterback was replaced by backup Garrett Nussmeier, who completed 15-of-27 passes for 294 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception in the 50-30 loss to the Bulldogs.
Despite not finishing the first half and trailing by three scores before he left the game, Daniels was having a decent day. He ended the contest by completing 16-of-24 passes for 208 yards. The California native also had a passing touchdown and tossed a pick as well.
Daniels will be the starting quarterback for an LSU that will likely be favored to win the SEC West in 2023. The Tigers are ranked No. 4 nationally in ESPN’s Preseason poll.
Daniels expressed his high hopes for the Tigers as he heads into his senior campaign at LSU.
“I just think we were that close to really winning the SEC. We were a couple of plays away from competing with Georgia, the national champions,” Daniels stated on Monday.
LSU showed flashes of excellence in its first season under Brian Kelly, who was at Notre Dame before taking over for national-champion-winning coach Ed Orgeron in 2022.
The Tigers went 10-4 overall and won the SEC West by upsetting a top-10 Alabama team. After losing to Georgia, the Tigers defeated Purdue 63-7 in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.
Kelly said on Monday that he wants his team to be able to compete with UGA on the field.
“I know that based upon how we’ve recruited and how we’ll continue to recruit that we’ll have a football roster that will be able to compete against Georgia. Is that right now? No, it’s not,” he stated on Monday. “If we continue to do what we’re doing, we’re going to have a roster that can compete against Georgia, and then it’s just a matter of getting it done on the playing field so everybody then can assess they’ve closed the gap.”
For Daniels, he learned a lot in the loss to the Bulldogs back in December of 2022.
"I learned that that day, Georgia was just a better team than us. You know, they won the national championship for a reason,” Daniels said. “Obviously, there's just stuff that you take from the game that you did well and stuff that you can take from the game that you did badly. But at the end of the day, Georgia was just a better team than us."
Luckily, for Daniels, Carter won’t be on the field as he was selected in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. However, there are plenty of Bulldogs that would want to face him again.