Penn State looking forward to the opportunity for Abdul Carter to play more in Week 2
Penn State first-year linebacker Abdul Carter only played two reps total, one on special teams and the other on defense, in the Lions’ season-opening win at Purdue.
However, from the sounds of it, that will change starting with a Week 2 matchup against Ohio at Beaver Stadium.
Carter was ejected in the first half of the season opener at Ross-Ade Stadium after video review caused referee Rod Snodgrass to flag the defender for targeting. It was questionable live and also upon further viewings, but that was the call, and the Lions had to live with it.
“It’s one of those that we’ve talked about before,” head coach James Franklin said. “There’s targetings for guys leading with the head, and then there’s targetings where the ball carrier is to a point that there’s no way to keep your head up. If you’re gonna match pad level with pad level, that’s gonna happen.
“I don’t think there was any malicious intent there. He was just trying to stop the ball carrier. I think of all of you, if you go home to your living rooms or you walk out of here, and at some point, you drop down, it’s impossible to keep your head up. That’s what happened on that play. So he’ll learn from it, and we’ll coach off of it. There’s not a whole lot you can do in that circumstance.”
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Penn State wanted, and wants, to use Carter more
The call robbed Penn State of the ability to play the talented freshman more. But, assuming no more ejections are in his future, that will change starting this week.
“Abdul Carter, we were expecting him to play a decent amount in that [Purdue] game,” Franklin said Tuesday. “And, it was really dependent on how he was going to play. With it being his first game, we didn’t want to have a strict rotation.
“But, obviously he ended up two plays, one on special teams and one on defense. Our plan was for much more than that. So this week, I’d like to get him a ton of reps both on special teams and on defense. And then obviously this game will have a better give us a better feel of how that [linebacker] rotation will go moving forward.”
Carter has drawn strong reviews since arriving at Penn State this summer. Wearing the No. 11 uniform made famous by former Lions linebacker Micah Parsons, he has high expectations for his career, and so do his Penn State coaches. While his first game didn’t go as planned, he will be an oft-used linebacker moving forward as he continues learning under defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.
