Colby Carthel goes off on one of dirtiest plays he's seen in nearly three decades, which likely ends career for SFA player

Stephen F. Austin (FCS - TX) is 4-0 and coming off a 31-10 road win at Prairie View A&M. Asked at his Monday presser how his team came out of that game health-wise, Colby Carthel went off on the play that hurt one of his captains.

"I've coached 27 years of college football. That was the second dirtiest, most unsportsmanlike play I've seen in my career," Carthel said. "Absolutely no business in this game for a play like that. Disgusting. It's pathetic."

The player at the center of that comment is Gerard Edimo, a redshirt sophomore tight end out of Round Rock and one of SFA's captains. Carthel said Edimo made a routine play and "got his leg near yanked off the bone," an injury the coach believes likely ended his career. Edimo has two years of eligibility left and, in Carthel's words, "will probably never play another snap of football because of a dirty, unsportsmanlike play."

Carthel said the Prairie View player who did it got up and made fun of Edimo as the SFA captain was helped off the field. It happened right in front of the Lumberjacks' bench. No flag. Carthel said an official standing right there didn't call it, and that another official walked the opposing player off while he was mocking Edimo.

Video circulating of the actions of the play, and the actions afterwards, are tough to watch.

"Kudos to our team for holding things together, that it wasn't an all-out brawl and that we were able to finish the game without incident," Carthel said. The injury and the taunting played out a few feet from his sideline, and he credited his players for not letting it turn into something worse.

Carthel said SFA is following the protocols now in terms of what the conference and the NCAA want to do with the play. "I hate it for Gerard. I hate it for our team. I hate it for our sport," he said.

Carthel is in his eighth season at Stephen F. Austin, where he took over in 2019. He went 59-18 as head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce and won a Division II national title in 2017 before making the jump, and he coordinated the defense at West Texas A&M after starting his career in 2000.

SFA controlled the Prairie View game start to finish. The Panthers played in the Celebration Bowl a year ago, won 10 games and claimed the SWAC. Carthel said his offense left meat on the bone and has cleaner football in it, even at 4-0 and ranked inside the FCS top 10.

The Jacks come home to Homer Bryce Stadium this week for family weekend against Northeastern State. Edimo, the captain Carthel said he hopes his own son grows up to be like, may have already played his last snap.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.