Georgia Tech’s new right tackle Malachi Carney is continuing to blossom
When football coach Darrell LeBeaux first heard about Malachi Carney, he was in a bit of disbelief.
“I said there’s no 6-4 kid in my hallway that I don’t know, that I haven’t talked to,” LeBeaux recalled. “Sure enough, it was Malachi.”
Carney’s days of somewhat slipping through the cracks were beginning to be numbered. At that time, during Carney’s sophomore year of high school, LeBeaux, the former head coach at Pleasant Grove High School in Alabama, started to have conversations with Carney about playing football — an idea Carney had dismissed because he wanted to play basketball.
But going into his junior year, Carney finally relented and agreed to join the Pleasant Grove football squad as an offensive lineman.
“Coach Darrell LeBeaux and coach Ty Cox, they were just talking to me, I should come try out for the team, just come give it a shot,” Carney said. “‘If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. If you do like it you’ll really be a big part of the team.’ I went out there and I tried it, and I instantly got to love it.”
Now the starting right tackle for No. 18 Georgia Tech, Carney is scratching the surface still for what he can be as an offensive lineman and blossoming into a professional prospect. Tech coach Brent Key likes to tell the story of a moment in a preseason practice when Tech’s defense made an interception that looked like it would be returned the other way for a touchdown. But when Key looked toward the other end of the field, there was Carney running the length of the field to track down a defensive back to stop a would-be score.
The athletic ability for Carney, who now weighs 335, has always been there. Learning the game and the position started a little later than most of his peers.
“There was some growing pains that first year, but the mindset, the mentality, the playing the position and wanting to stick his face in there play after play, those were the easy things,” LeBeaux said. “For us it was about fixing the footwork and hand placement and things like that nature.”
Carney spent his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, living with his mother and older brother. He also pointed toward his aunt and her daughter, his cousin who he considers a big sister, as guiding hands in life.
Athletically, Carney drifted away from the sport of football after middle school, gravitating toward basketball before LeBeaux and the Pleasant Grove football coaches came around. He joined the Spartans and played left tackle, the opposite side of the line from Anez Cooper, now a senior guard for Miami who is a two-time All-ACC honorable mention.
But Carney was rather undersized then, weighing around 260 in high school, he said, which equated to very few scholarship offers. Carney’s first time playing at Bobby Dodd Stadium came Sept. 6 when he lined up against Gardner-Webb, a program he seriously considered playing for coming out of high school.
Instead, Carney chose his lone opportunity to play at the Football Bowl Subdivision level and signed with South Alabama in the class of 2022. He redshirted that season, then logged 317 snaps (226 which came in the Jaguars’ final four games) in 2023 before becoming the starting right tackle in 2024.
“My second year at South I realized I could take it farther, that I actually had a chance,” Carney said. “I started taking time out and thinking time is getting closer and closer. I got to take it more serious. I started to see football as giving me a chance. Thank God, look where I’m at now.”
After 855 plays in 2024 and becoming USA’s top run-blocking offensive lineman, according to Pro Football Focus, Carney opted to transfer in mid-April, then a week later committed to play for Tech. He had an outstanding debut against Colorado, grading out as the Yellow Jackets’ top offensive player, top run blocker and second-best pass blocker over 65 snaps.
Carney’s ACC debut against Clemson on Saturday saw him take a step back in performance, but he’s still expected to be in the starting lineup at 4:30 p.m. Saturday when the Jackets face Temple at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“I think (Carney’s) wonderful. I think he fits in great,” Tech left tackle Ethan Mackenny said. “Great sense of humor, really kind and loving guy. Talks to everybody, doesn’t matter if you’re a younger guy, older guy, he’s just here, happy. And I think he’s a great fit for our offensive line because he’s got that mentality, you know? I think he’s a tough player, especially in the run game. He’s gonna hurt somebody. He’s a big guy.”
Carney weighs in at 335, but admitted he’d like to be closer to 320 — which has meant an extra focus on conditioning. He added he is continually looking to perfect his technique and put in extra work, knowing he has a long way to go if he wants to play in the NFL.
At Tech, Carney feels confident he’s at the right place to help make that goal a reality.
“It’s been amazing,” he said. “I love the coaching staff, love the players and everyone tends to motivate each other and push each other harder. I love that.”
About the Author
