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Smyrna standout Arion Carter excels on field and embraces leadership role




During a stoppage in the JV portion of Smyrna’s home scrimmage Friday night against Montgomery Bell Academy, senior standout Arion Carter decided to offer some on-field advice to sophomore defensive back Javonte Curry.

Carter had already participated in the varsity scrimmage – a two-quarter session that saw MBA prevail 17-0 – but was just as involved on the sidelines and cheering on the JV team’s efforts, and offering encouragement, as he was in the varsity scrimmage.

The Memphis commit said he enjoys being a leader and mentor.

“I try my best to influence the younger generation that’s coming up because you’re only as good as your second and third string, so I try to make them the best they can be,” Carter said. “That way, if somebody falls down, there’s no fall off.”

Carter was active in all three phases of Smyrna’s scrimmage, seeing time in the offensive backfield, at linebacker and on special teams.

“He’s a jack of all trades,” said Bulldogs head coach Matt Williams, now entering his 15th year at the helm of the Smyrna program.

Last season Carter lit up opposing offenses, rushing for just under 1,000 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per carry and 16 touchdowns, helping power Smyrna to a 7-4 record and a playoff berth. He also was an impact player at linebacker.

Carter said he has no preference where he plays.

“I just like to play ball,” he said. “In all honesty, I just want to do what’s best for the team and be a leader at the end of the day.”

Williams said the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Carter will be playing more on defense this season out of necessity. The Bulldogs are only returning three starters on defense.

“Last year we couldn’t afford to use him as much (on defense) because he was really our only viable tailback,” Williams said. “But this year, we sort of have to. He’s just as talented on the defensive side as he is on the offensive side.”

Carter said he chose Memphis because they treated him like family. He had offers from 15 schools. Besides Memphis, he had FBS offers from Arkansas State, Army, Charlotte, Navy and Toledo. He also had an offer from Yale.

Carter plans to be a health science major.

“It was a big decision,” he said of his choice of Memphis. “I had to make it for the next 3-4 years and entrust them with everything. I think I made a good decision.”

Williams said he has no doubt Carter will succeed at the next level.

“Arion’s a special kid,” he said. “You know, we’ve had a lot of kids go a lot of places to play football in college from Smyrna High School. He’s the cream of the crop. A great kid academically, great character-wise. I couldn’t be prouder to have him as part of our program. He’s going to do big things.”

Playoff expectations

Not surprisingly, both Williams and Carter have high expectations for Smyrna for 2022. Carter said he expects Smyrna to “make a deep playoff run and show that we contend for a state championship.”

Williams, while positive, was a little more circumspect.

“I think we have a chance to be a good football team,” he said. “We’ve got to keep creating depth. Depth is our greatest weakness right now. We gotta have some kids keep developing, but we’ve got some good players and just have to keep them healthy. If they can stay healthy, we’ve got a shot.”

‘Lessons to be learned’

The Bulldogs wrapped up their scrimmage season against a tough opponent, which Williams said was by design.

“They’re (MBA) a quality opponent,” he said. “Obviously (head coach) Marty (Euverard) does a great job. That’s why I scheduled it. He’s one of the best at execution of a scheme you’re probably going to see most of the year. Even though the scoreboard didn’t show the results you wanted, we’re going to get a lot out of this.

“I thought we had some good execution, but a penalty early hurt us. There’s some lessons to be learned there, like not shoot ourselves in the foot. … Defensively, we have to play a little bit better pad level and tackle better. Overall, there was a lot of good and a lot of bad. So, we got a lot to work off from the film.”

New turf

Smyrna will be debuting new artificial turf courtesy of a donor this season. The project was just recently completed.

“The Lord blessed us with a very generous donor, Smyrna Ready Mix, we were just blessed to get it,” Williams said. “Put a lot of work, time and effort to get to this point. I’m proud of us, for our school and for Smyrna to have something like this.”

Smyrna’s home field will now be known as Smyrna Ready Mix Field at Robert L. Raikes Stadium.

Next up

Smyrna opens its season Aug. 19 hosting Stewarts Creek at 7 p.m.

MBA opens the same night at Ravenwood.

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