James Franklin downplays concerns over Abdul Carter not getting holding calls

The Penn State Nittany Lions have one of the best pass rushes in all of college football, headlined by Abdul Carter. He’s a player that head coach James Franklin knows he can rely on, whether he’s getting calls or not in a game.

Holding happens, to some degree, on almost every play in a football game. Despite that, it has seemed like Carter isn’t getting as many calls as he should be in games. Despite that, Franklin downplayed concerns about that lack of calls.

“Do you see frustration showing up on the field when you watch him,” James Franklin asked. “To me, it’s showing up on the field where he’s getting frustrated and now his effort changes because he feels like, hey, ‘I can’t get a call here. I’m getting held every time.’ Then that would be a concern. But the guy is playing with phenomenal motor. I mean, the play he made on the screen was phenomenal. Again, for us, we try to spend a lot of time talking about real football people, studying the tape, NFL scouts, GMs, other college coaches. When you watch the tape, the guy is impactful.”

In 10 games this season, Abdul Carter has 45 combined tackles with 18 of those being tackles for a loss and 8.0 being sacks. At times, Penn State will even have him drop back in coverage and he had broken up three passes this season.

“Whether it’s sacks, whether it’s tackles for loss, whether it’s holding calls, whether it is obvious that they have a specific plan in how they’re trying to limit his impact, keeping tight ends in, keeping running backs in, always sliding in his direction so there’s double-team between the tackle and the guard,” Franklin said.

“Like he is impacting the game in a number of ways, which creates opportunities for other guys on our defensive line and within our defense and causes a lot of headaches. So, he’s been great. His attitude’s been great. He is coachable. He is becoming more and more of a leader every single day. One of the cool things for me to do is after the game, for some reason, I can always find his dad and his mom in the stands. He has a hard time finding them sometimes, but I always seem to find them, and I’ve got a great relationship with them.

Penn State lines Abdul Carter across from another star edge rusher, Dani Dennis-Sutton. That combination puts a lot of strain on the opposing tackles, often forcing them to win without the benefit of a double team. That can, in turn, lead to more grabbing than they intend.

“So, no. I’m more focused on how is he impacting the game, and how is his effort and his motor? Those two things are at a really, really high level. I think a lot of people are noticing it,” Franklin said. “I love — my favorite play in the game last week was the screen because the effort and the burst that he played with. And not just him, you watch that clip, and Zane Durant is chasing the ball from behind, a bunch of guys are doing it. Those things lead to good things when you’ve got all 11 guys running to the ball and playing with great motor and enthusiasm.”

Now a junior, this season Abdul Carter has been focusing more on his pass rushing as a standing edge rusher. In the past, he played more of a linebacker role who would often be a piece of the pass rush. So, part of what has happened this season is seeing the impact of that transition.

“I think the other thing I would say is early in the year, as he was transitioning to D-end, he had a few jump offsides penalties and things like that, which all great defensive ends do, but those are limiting,” Franklin said. “So, now I think people are focusing on all the positive things he’s doing, not trying to balance the sack and the jump offsides. He’s less and less of those things and more and more of just straight-out production.”

Penn State will have two more regular season games, against Minnesota and Maryland, for Abdul Carter to continue making his impact felt this season.