SFA coach rips tackle that 'probably ended' TE's career: 'Disgusting. Pathetic'

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Colby Carthel has been coaching college football in some capacity since 2000, but a play he saw early in Stephen F. Austin’s 31-10 win against Prairie View A&M on Saturday, Sept. 19, is unlike almost anything he’s witnessed in that lengthy career.

With Carthel’s team inside the Prairie View red zone and holding a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter, redshirt sophomore tight end Gerard Edimo caught a 2-yard pass for the Lumberjacks before being brought down by defensive back Eric Zachery.

After Zachery completed the tackle, though, he continued holding on to Edimo’s left leg, twisting it at an awkward angle (warning: explicit content). Edimo remained on the ground and was immediately tended to by team trainers before being helped off the field.

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During a news conference on Monday, Sept. 21, two days after the victory, Carthel described it as “the second-dirtiest, most unsportsmanlike play I’ve seen in my career.”

“Absolutely no business in this game for a play like that,” Carthel said. “Disgusting. It’s pathetic.”

Carthel added that Edimo’s leg was “near yanked off the bone” and that the injury “probably ended his career.”

“He’s got two years left and he’ll probably never play another snap of football because of a dirty, unsportsmanlike play,” Carthel said. “The young man (Zachery) got up and then made fun of him as he walked off. Disgusting. Pathetic.”

The 6-foot-5, 232-pound Edimo is a South Florida transfer who’s in his third season at Stephen F. Austin, an FCS program located in Nacogdoches, Texas. Last season, he had five receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown. Heading into this season, he was honored with a single-digit jersey number (No. 8) and was voted as a captain by his teammates.

Adding to Carthel’s frustration was what unfolded after the play. Zachery was not whistled for a penalty for what he did after the tackle was made, and Carthel said the Panthers’ junior was making fun of Edimo after the play was over. The play happened right in front of the Stephen F. Austin sideline.

In a statement posted to social media on Tuesday, Sept. 22, Prairie View coach Tremaine Jackson expressed his sympathy for Edimo before defending Zachery.

“Eric Zachery is not only a good player, he is a good person, great student and one of the best people in our program!!” Jackson wrote in the statement. “We will not allow anyone to attack him or his character because of a play in a game.”

He added that he hasn’t received any calls in the days since about the play and that nobody from Stephen F. Austin mentioned anything about it to him after the game.

“Don’t get on the internet and attack any of my kids!!” Jackson wrote. “We coach them the right way and they play the right way!! Everyone has my number, and knows how to reach me if there’s a problem.”

Carthel said the Lumberjacks are following the protocols “in terms of what the conference and NCAA want to do” regarding the play.

“I hate it for Gerard,” Carthel said. “I hate it for our team. I hate it for our sport.”

With the win, Stephen F. Austin improved to 4-0 and moved up to No. 6 in the FCS rankings. Prairie View, meanwhile, fell to 1-3. Last season, the Panthers went 10-4 and won the SWAC for the first time since 2009 before losing to South Carolina State, 40-38, in the Celebration Bowl.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SFA coach rips tackle that 'probably ended' TE's career: 'Disgusting. Pathetic'

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