James Franklin raves about Abdul Carter, reveals what makes him special

True freshman linebacker Abdul Carter has carved himself a solid role in Penn State’s defense just three games into his college career, and head coach James Franklin really isn’t surprised.

Aside from arriving at State College with the physical profile to play right away, Carter has things squared away mentally and emotionally, which Franklin thinks is just as key to being able to play as a true freshman. Given all that Franklin knows about Carter and his upbringing, this didn’t surprise the Penn State head coach at all.

“I know mom is really happy that he’s now at Penn State, cause when we went to do the home visit —and I’m not exaggerating — you walk into the house and when you first walk into the house: hardwood floors and the weight room is setup, getting him ready for Penn State,” Franklin said. “Right when you walk in to the house. In the living room. And he’s like power cleaning and dropping the barbell on hardwood floors. And I know she was happy when he came to Penn State because she was able to get that stuff, I think, back into the basement is where they told me it was. But, just very focused. Very determined. Very driven. And just like dad told me, very mature and focused. And you combine that with his physical traits and you’ve got a chance. You guys have heard me say before, there’s guys that are physically ready but they’re not mentally ready. Or they’ll physically ready and mentally ready but they’re not emotionally ready. He’s really shown that he’s been ready in a lot of those different areas.” 

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Olympic lifting in the living room certainly explains Carter’s physical profile. Not being big, fast or strong enough is usually what weeds out freshmen from seeing the field.

That was never an issue with Carter, who came to Penn State at 6-foot-3, and around 230 pounds. He pairs the size with impressive play speed and corresponding strength.

“It starts with, he’s freakishly fast, freakishly strong and doesn’t have the body of a normal high school linebacker coming in,” Franklins said. “I remember talking to him throughout the recruiting process, after he had signed. And him and his dad were asking about weight. And I’m like, ‘You’re plenty big right now.’ I think they felt like they had to put on more weight and I was like ‘You’re plenty big enough right now.'”

And the moments haven’t been too big for Carter, either. He’s appeared in all three games for Penn State so far and recording 11 total tackles — including a sack and tackle for loss — plus a forced fumble.

It’s an auspicious start for Carter and his career, one with plenty of runway left to takeoff.

“It’s been pretty cool and I would say that we’re not surprised since we’ve been able to be around him and see and hear his testing numbers when he arrived on campus,” Franklin said. “And then his approach in the weight room and summer camp and so on and so forth.”