Clemson’s Ryan Carter responds to ‘uncalled for, vicious’ hit that knocked him out of FSU game

Clemson cornerback Ryan Carter spoke with the media on Tuesday for the first time since being knocked out of Saturday’s game against Florida State.

Carter was hit by FSU linebacker Emmett Rice during a punt in the third quarter of the Tigers’ win, and Rice was ejected for the helmet-to-helmet hit.

Carter stayed down for a few minutes before being helped off the field with an apparent concussion.

“When it first happened, I didn’t even realize I was injured until they were walking me off the field. It was definitely a scary moment because that has never happened to me before. I’ve never been in that type of scenario where I was unconscious and whatnot,” Carter said. “It was really foggy, really fuzzy at first… I think after I got in the locker room and started relaxing, it all started coming back and making sense. It just happened so fast that I didn’t realize what happened.”

Rice celebrated the hit on Carter and did a sleeping gesture as he was escorted into the locker room.

Carter said he is aware of the gesture, and saw the hit, which happened away from the play.

“It was pretty vicious. He definitely caught me and I should have had my head a little bit better on a swivel,” Carter said. “I kind of see both sides, but to me I don’t think that was really necessary. I don’t really think I was as close to the play. I wasn’t near the ball or wasn’t about to make a tackle so I don’t feel like he had to go to that extent of hitting me like that… I think when you go a little bit too far, that’s when people start asking questions and start raising eyebrows. I thought it was a little bit uncalled for.”

As far as the gesture, Carter said, “Yeah, they told me about it after. I didn’t see it or anything, they told me about it. I’m not sure he had to do that or if that was necessary.”

This story was originally published November 14, 2017 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Clemson’s Ryan Carter responds to ‘uncalled for, vicious’ hit that knocked him out of FSU game."