Penn State star linebacker Abdul Carter in line for position change
Penn State is moving one of its top defenders to a new position ahead of the 2024 season. Junior Abdul Carter, who spent his first two years with the Nittany Lions as a linebacker after coming out of high school as a four-star at that spot according to the On3 Industry Rankings, will be a defensive end this season. It’s the first major move made by first-year coordinator Tom Allen, who aims to put his fingerprints on a defense that shined the last two seasons and throughout the bulk of the James Franklin era.
The Philadelphia native was a first-team All-Big Ten selection and ESPN All-American choice in 2023 after making 48 tackles (5.5 for loss) over 13 games. He also recorded 4.5 sacks, an interception, and five quarterback hurries. That performance came on the heels of a freshman year that saw him join new position coach Deion Barnes as the only Penn State defenders to ever amass 10-plus tackles for loss and 6-plus sacks in a season in 2022.
Carter’s move to defensive end gives the Lions a new force at pass rusher. It is needed with Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac both set to be early round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. The change emphasizes what was already going to be one of the most fascinating position battles of the spring. Dani Dennis-Sutton is all but set to move into a starting role after being a key part of the rotation last year. But, after him, the race for the other first-team spot and the top roles off the bench is on between a number of players, including Zuriah Fisher, Jameial Lyons, Amin Vanover, Smith Vilbert if healthy, and now, Carter, among others.
Penn State preps for spring
Penn State is less than a month away from spring practice starting on March 12. The Nittany Lions are amid winter workouts now that will carry them into head coach James Franklin’s 11th season in State College. Back on Tuesday, he outlined the program’s priorities for the 15 practices that stretch across March and April and end with the Blue-White game on April 13 at Beaver Stadium.
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“One of the things that’s exciting is I think we’ll be able to have probably one of the better spring games in my mind that we’ve had in a while because we have enough depth to do that,” Franklin said. “That will allow us to kind of have a better understanding of where guys are at to come into training camp and to compete for actual starting jobs. We’ll have a better idea of where guys are at.
“As you guys know, there will be some guys that graduated and came in early that this spring will be a foundation for them, then summer will allow them to compete. We’ll have a few more guys showing up, as well. Depth chart, offensive and defensive staff getting on the same page, then obviously offense, defense and special teams players starting to understand and learn the installs and the offense, defense and special teams.”
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