What to know about Eagles draft pick Jalen Carter’s ties to the fatal car crash incident in Georgia

Thursday night during the first round of the NFL draft in Kansas City, Mo., the Eagles traded with the Chicago Bears to move up from pick No. 10 to No. 9 to draft University of Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter.

While Carter was ranked as the No. 1 overall prospect on several draft experts’ boards, including that of ESPN’s Mel Kiper, he does not arrive in Philadelphia without some controversy. In March, Carter, who was 21 at the time, was charged with a pair of misdemeanors in relation to a car crash that occurred in the early hours of Jan. 15 and resulted in the death of two people associated with the Georgia football program. The incident, and the fallout from it, raised purported character concerns with Carter among some NFL teams. It also almost certainly contributed to Carter sliding all the way to No. 9 and landing with the Eagles.

» READ MORE: Jalen Carter is a great prospect who made a terrible mistake. The Eagles had better be right about his character.

Here’s everything you need to know about Carter, the crash, and how it relates to one of the newest Eagles.

Carter is a 6-foot-3, 314-pound defensive tackle from Apopka, Fla. He was rated a five-star recruit by 247Sports.com out of Apopka High School, the same school that produced former NFL defensive tackle and Hall of Famer Warren Sapp.

He committed to Georgia in May 2019 over scholarship offers from Alabama, Clemson, and Auburn among others. As a freshman for the Bulldogs, he played in 10 games, starting two, before breaking out as a sophomore in 2021.

That season, Carter helped anchor a historically dominant defense, logging 37 tackles, 8.5 tackles for a loss, three sacks, and one pass breakup in 15 games. He played alongside current Eagles Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and fellow 2023 draft pick Nolan Smith on that defense, as the Bulldogs won their first national championship in 41 years. Carter was named a second-team All-SEC selection that season as a sophomore.

In 2022, Carter emerged as the face of the Bulldogs’ defense, and arguably the most dominant defensive player in college football. In 13 games, he tallied 32 tackles, 31 quarterback hits, seven tackles for a loss, three sacks, three pass breakups, and two forced fumbles. He also blocked three kicks during his time at Georgia.

The Bulldogs finished with a perfect record and won a second consecutive national championship. He was a first-team All-SEC selection, a first-team All-American, and was named a finalist for the Rotary Lombardi Award, which is presented to the nation’s top lineman.

» READ MORE: 10 things to know about top Eagles draft pick Jalen Carter

He was widely considered the top draft prospect at the conclusion of the college season and was even at one point in contention to go No. 1 overall. Carter’s performance at Georgia’s pro day on March 15, also did not help his draft stock. The defensive lineman showed up nine pounds heavier (323 pounds) than he was two weeks prior at the NFL scouting combine and struggled to complete various drills due to cramping and exhaustion.

“I felt conditioned but I guess I wasn’t,” Carter said Thursday. “That was just me. I should have done conditioning a little bit more — a lot more for the pro day.”

On Jan. 15, at around 2:45 a.m., a serious car crash occurred south of Athens, Ga. that resulted in the deaths of Georgia recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy and offensive lineman Devin Willock. The incident occurred hours after Georgia’s national championship parade.

According to the Athens-Clark County Police Department, LeCroy, who was driving a 2021 Ford Expedition that was leased by UGA athletics, and Carter, who was driving a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, were “operating their vehicles in a manner consistent with racing” shortly after leaving the downtown Athens area at around 2:30 a.m. Police said the evidence demonstrated that both vehicles “switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed.”

LeCroy’s vehicle, which counted Willock and two other people associated with the Georgia football program as passengers, crashed into two utility poles and two trees before coming to a stop. Willock, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene while LeCroy, 24, died later at the hospital. The other two passengers suffered injuries but were expected to make a full recovery. It was later determined that LeCroy’s vehicle was traveling approximately 104 miles per hour, while a toxicology report revealed LeCroy’s blood alcohol concentration was .197 — more than twice the legal limit in Georgia — at the time of the crash.

According to police, “investigators determined that alcohol impairment, racing, reckless driving, and speed were significant contributing factors to the crash.”

Police body camera showed Carter at the scene denying there was racing.

The Athens-Clarke County Police Department issued a warrant on March 1 for Carter’s arrest in connection to the incident. At the time, Carter was set to participate in the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

Carter turned himself in on March 2 and later pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors, reckless driving, and racing, on March 16. He was sentenced to 12 months of probation, a $1,000 fine, and 80 hours of community service for his involvement in the incident.

“We are happy that we were able to work with the solicitor general’s office to reach a resolution that was fair and just based on the evidence in this case,” Carter’s attorney Kim Stephens said in a statement. “Mr. Carter continues to grieve for the loss of his friends and continues to pray for their families, as well as for the continued healing for injured friends.”

Investigators determined Carter’s involvement did not rise to the level of felony charges.

“If the investigation had determined otherwise, Mr. Carter would have been charged with the far more serious offenses of vehicular homicide and serious injury by vehicle under Georgia law, both felony offenses, and would have faced a lengthy prison sentence,” Stephens said.

The case against Carter has been resolved and he can’t face any additional criminal charges in relation to the incident. While there is potential civil litigation to come, Carter has not been named as a plaintiff

A legal notice filed this month by the father of Willock — Carter’s teammate who was killed in the Jan. 15 crash — disputed much of the University of Georgia’s characterization of the fatal incident, blaming the crash that occurred during an early morning high-speed race between Carter and a team staff member through Athens on a lack of oversight by UGA officials.

Willock’s father, of New Milford, N.J, is seeking $2 million from the university, and alleges the UGA recruiting analyst [LeCroy] assigned to drive players and their families around the town was served alcohol during UGA Athletic Association events. Attorneys claim that the alcohol consumed at the university event caused her judgment while street racing with Carter to be “substantially impaired.”

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman acknowledged that the findings of the past few months played a role in Carter being available.

“Obviously it’s been a traumatic process for him throughout the spring,” Roseman said Thursday. “We understand there was a reason he was available at nine. I think everyone will tell you this is one of the most talented players in the draft and one of the most talented players to come out of college in a long time. That’s part of what we’re talking about.”

Roseman also pointed out that Carter is still a kid and that this decision shouldn’t define him.

“We understand all these players need to be developed,” Roseman said. “They’re coming into the league at a very young age. They’re not finished products. I think all of us, when we were 21 or 22 hopefully have grown a lot from that time. You just really want to get to know the person and what’s in their heart.

» READ MORE: Howie Roseman defends the Eagles’ Jalen Carter draft pick, and the only fair response is to wait and see

“When we got to know Jalen, we felt like, here’s a kid that does love football, obviously he’s a winner, he won in high school, he won in college. We felt like we have really good people in this building, we have a really good support staff, we have really good players who are good people, we have really good coaches, and we felt like it was a good fit for us.”

Carter said that the Eagles “really didn’t ask much about the accident that happened” and instead focused more on learning about his love for football.

“We spent a lot of time investigating the incident around it,” Roseman said. “We talked to Jalen about a variety of things. We’re not going to get into what we talk to our players about. That’s not fair. … But at the end of the day, nobody’s hiding from the fact that a tragic event happened.”