Lorenzo Carter had countless missed calls and unread texts by the time he got back to Athens in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

But the congratulatory texts and could wait. That it was 4:30 a.m. ET couldn’t alter one of Carter’s cherished rituals.

Mother always comes first.

“She was asleep,” Carter said, “(but) I just needed to let her know I was home and I made it safe.”

The same couldn’t be said for those Carter left in his wake in South Bend, Ind.

Carter terrorized Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush and the rest of the offense, coming off the bench to record seven tackles and a sack in Georgia’s 20-19 road victory. Carter also forced two fumbles and recovered a fumble. That recovery served as the game’s signature play.

With under two minutes left and Notre Dame facing first and 10 at its 26-yard line, Wimbush took the snap. He was rudely met by Georgia linebacker Davin Bellamy, who leveled Wimbush and stripped the ball. Carter was there to jump on the fumble to clinch the Bulldogs’ triumph at Notre Dame Stadium.

For his efforts, Carter was named the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Lorenzo Carter has forced two fumbles this season and recovered two -- both of Georgia's recoveries this season -- including the clincher at Notre Dame.

Carter just wishes he could have done more than recover the ball.

“Once I (saw) it, the ball was right there, I was trying to get the ball and go,” he said. “But, yeah. You’ve just got to get on the ball.”

It was the type of performance people had once expected Carter would make routine. Not that the long-awaited effort made it any less impressive to Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart.

Smart had effusive praise for the senior.

“I thought Lorenzo played an outstanding game,” Smart said. “People don’t realize, Lorenzo’s not playing his natural position. Lorenzo has stepped up and allowed us to play with only four DBs, and that’s been a major concern of ours. … His value has become he can play in space. He reminds of when they had Leonard (Floyd) here. He gives offenses fits because they’ve got to account for that guy rushing, they’ve got to account for the guy dropping. I thought he played with tremendous toughness. He plays on two special teams and he plays every snap on defense. I mean, it’s really kind of amazing he doesn’t get tired.”

Carter was just happy to help.

“Oh yeah, I think it’s going to pay off in the future,” he said. “Just being, like you said, a Leonard Floyd (type), doing the same thing I’m doing, you’ve got to cover a slot receiver and a running back out of the backfield. So just getting a little bit more practice and just doing it to help the team at the same time.”

Two games into the season, Carter ranks third on the team in tackles with 10. But if Saturday is any indication, Carter might leap to the top of that list soon enough.

That’s certainly the plan, anyway.

“It’s all coming together,” Carter told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “It’s my senior year. It’s time to do work.”