Two Star SEC Athletes Now Connected by Two Tragic Incidents

Reckless decisions from Alabama hoops standout Brandon Miller and former Georgia DT Jalen Carter led to catastrophic consequences. The cautionary tales that came before theirs on a mid-January morning seemed to have eluded them both.

There is an eerie, tragic connective thread that now runs between Brandon Miller and Jalen Carter. They are star Southeastern Conference athletes who, according to police, are lucky to be alive. On the same early mid-January morning, at almost the same exact time, hundreds of miles apart, Miller and Carter seemed to have courted death through alarmingly negligent behavior.

At 2:45 a.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 15, authorities in Athens, Ga., responded to a call of a single-vehicle crash on Barnett Shoals Road. They found a Ford Expedition that had left the roadway and plowed through two power poles and several trees. The accident killed Georgia football player Devin Willock and football staffer Chandler LeCroy, who police say was driving the car at an extreme rate of speed with a blood-alcohol level of 0.197, twice the legal limit.

At 1:45 a.m. CT that same day, shots were fired in downtown Tuscaloosa in a gunfight near a busy entertainment district. The shootout ended with Jamea Jonae Harris dead at the scene. A former Alabama basketball player, Darius Miles, is charged with capital murder after allegedly providing the gun for his friend and alleged trigger man, Michael Davis.

It was a horrible coincidence, a horrible moment in time, in two idyllic SEC towns 275 miles apart. A horrible reminder of the fragility of life and the consequences of terrible decision-making by young adults.

Carter was part of Georgia’s back-to-back national championship teams :: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

Weeks later, the two stories have taken jarring turns. News emerged that linked Carter and Harris to the two tragedies. Two athletes, just a few months away from life-altering fortunes dangling in front of them, may have risked it all with tragic recklessness. Last week, it was Alabama basketball player Miller, a projected top-five NBA draft pick. This week, it is former Georgia football player Carter, projected by many as the No. 1 prospect in the NFL draft.

Miller is alleged to have drove the murder weapon to the scene of the shooting in Tuscaloosa. Miles sent him a text asking for it. According to a statement by Miller’s attorney, Jim Standridge, Miller was already en route to the scene to pick up Miles when the text came in, and Miller had no idea of Miles’s intent to use the gun. Standridge said Miller never left his car, while police have said Miller’s windshield was struck by two bullets in the shootout, which means his life was in direct jeopardy.

Miller and teammate Jaden Bradley, who was also at the scene of the crime, are not facing criminal charges at this time. They also have gone undisciplined by Alabama, which did not disclose their presence at the shooting. That revelation has spurred a weeklong firestorm that has engulfed one of the top teams in college basketball.

That same early morning in Athens, Carter, in his own car, was allegedly racing LeCroy hours after the football team’s second straight national championship was celebrated with fans at Sanford Stadium. Police assert they were driving at wild speeds and that the two cars “switched lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.” On Wednesday, when the defensive tackle was supposed to meet the media at the NFL combine, police issued an arrest warrant for Carter on two misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing.

Carter issued a statement later Wednesday that said, in part, “Numerous media reports also have circulated this morning containing inaccurate information concerning the tragic events of Jan. 15, 2023. It is my intention to return to Athens to answer the misdemeanor charges against me and to make certain that the complete and accurate truth is presented. There is no question in my mind that when all of the facts are known that I will be fully exonerated of any criminal wrongdoing.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that Carter was cited three times last fall for traffic violations—parking in a handicapped zone, failure to obey a traffic-control device and going 89 in a 45-mph zone. That excessive speeding citation led to a fine of more than $1,000, the paper reported.

I’ve driven on Barnett Shoals Road many times. For a couple of years, my son lived in an apartment complex on that road while he was a student at Georgia. Driving 100 mph there is tempting a tragic fate. About a half mile from that apartment complex is where the alleged January car race came to its deadly ending.

As much as Miller and innocent bystanders were fortunate not to be struck by gunfire in Tuscaloosa, Carter apparently was lucky to keep his vehicle out of harm’s way in Athens—for himself and other motorists.

Miller has not faced any disciplinary action in relation to his connection to a shooting incident in Tuscaloosa.  :: Marvin Gentry/USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Post had a story Tuesday about new research on brain development over the course of a human lifetime. One sentence from the story: “Neuronal networks are continually honed and adjusted into young adulthood, especially those involved in rational thought and considering future consequences.” At college age, we are cerebral works in progress.

Miller is 20 years old and Carter is 21, ages when decision-making can be dubious—but given what both have at stake, an abnormal amount of caution and prudence is necessary. Athletic gifts do not guarantee maturity away from the field or court, and in fact can sometimes inhibit development. Many are commoditized, coddled, enabled, entitled and controlled by the adults around them, which is not an ideal pathway into the real world.

Upon arrival in college, are the most gifted athletes given enough support beyond athletics? And in the mental health space, are they given tools to acclimate in a different environment from where many of them grew up and in other dozens of ways?

Cautionary tales have also seemed to escape Miller, Carter and others. Former Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, now 24, is awaiting trial on DUI charges stemming from a 2021 incident where he rear-ended a car at speeds well in excess of 120 mph. The driver of that car and her dog died in the crash. Former Kentucky basketball player Terrence Clarke, age 19, died shortly before the ’21 NBA draft in a crash after running a red light at a high rate of speed.

As for Miller and Carter’s coaches? They haven’t been shining examples of accountability. Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats’s verbal gaffes and general lack of curiosity about his players’ presence at a murder scene have been off-putting to everyone who doesn’t chug crimson Kool-Aid. Georgia football coach Kirby Smart has issued statements regarding the tragic car crash that rocked his team, but otherwise avoided standing up and answering questions as the face of his powerhouse program.

Both men are at the top of their profession, and handsomely paid for getting there. Oats is trying to become the first coach to lead Alabama to a Final Four; Smart is the first coach to win consecutive national titles at Georgia. But when they can’t be trusted to speak to the media with much human decency (Oats’s “wrong spot at the wrong time” comment) or be bothered to speak to the media at all (Smart), it says something about their true job responsibilities. Just win.

Brandon Miller and Jalen Carter have helped both coaches win. And on the same January early morning, at almost exactly the same time, they were lucky to survive their allegedly terrible choices.