Thursday, Tennessee senior linebacker Arion Carter was announced as a nominee for the 2026 Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award. Carter is one of 89 nominees across college football for this award.
Carter is the epitome of the term man of the year. This week he announced he will donate $427 for every tackle he makes this season. He is partnering with Girls in Real Life Situations (GIRLS), a nonprofit that his mother, Sheteka Alexander, oversees. He will also donate $500 for every sack. In addition, he will donate $1,000 for every interception or forced fumble. He will donate $5,000 if he scores a defensive touchdown this year.
Carter said his inspiration comes from witnessing what his girlfriend, Mariah, is going through. She underwent a double mastectomy and is undergoing treatment for stage 2 breast cancer.
“Obviously, due to my circumstances, you can’t really change the circumstances that you’re put in, especially with this one,” Carter told the media Monday. “So I tried to turn a negative into a positive, put a smile on people’s faces. And it also goes back even to my mom. She has always wanted to raise a foundation or a non-profit foundation for women and little girls.
“And with being my girlfriend, going through what she’s went through in these last couple of months, and me seeing it firsthand, it just really touched my heart. And it really made me have a different perspective and want to be able to raise awareness and set up a foundation for cancer research and be able to do this. So that was the origin of that.”
As Carter prepares to take the field this Saturday for the first time this season, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key spoke on him Thursday.
“He’s one of the better players in the country at that position,” Key told media. “He was out last week, but there’s plenty of game tape on him that we know what he can do and what he has done. He’s a leader on that team. I mean, he’s a ball hawk. He’s as good of a linebacker as you’ll see anywhere in the country. So anytime you get a player back that’s that talented and has that much experience on the team, it’s big.”
Twenty semifinalists will be selected by a group within the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Selection Committee and announced Tuesday, Oct. 13. Three finalists will then be named for the award Monday, Dec. 14. Additionally, the winner will be announced at the award ceremony, set for the spring of 2027.
