ATHENS — Lorenzo Carter was working with the second-team this week, and it wasn’t because the ballyooed sophomore was behind even more ballyhooed Leonard Floyd and Jordan Jenkins.

Carter was on the second team because he was demoted, dropped behind Davin Bellamy as part of a message the coaches were sending. Evidently defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was unhappy with Carter’s practice habits.

“Pruitt was mad at me,” Carter said. “It lets us know that he’s going to coach us all the same, coach us hard, and if you don’t like it, then you can get out.”

So Carter was running with the second-teamers in Friday’s scrimmage, where he got some sacks on the unfortunate second-team offensive line. His demotion doesn’t figure to last long, as long as his practice habits improve. Pruitt and assistant coach Kevin Sherrer have been using Floyd at inside linebacker and the star in order to get Floyd, Jenkins and Carter on the field together.

They apparently stuck with the strategy in the scrimmage, only it was Bellamy getting those first-team snaps. Bellamy, a sophomore, has earned snaps in his own right.

“He’s been doing great,” Carter said. “I’ve been cheering him on. He’s moving along, and the more outside linebackers that we have that are game-ready then the less snaps we have to take, destroying our body.”

So he’s cool with sitting?

“Yeah, I’m cool with being fresh,” Carter said. “Fresh legs means more sacks. More sacks means more money.”