Penn State football’s best defensive player, Abdul Carter has been named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
The conference announced early Tuesday afternoon that it was recognizing Carter as the league’s best defensive player.
𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 to Abdul Carter, the 2024 Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year! #B1GFootball x @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/DQ9HKxTYpz
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) December 3, 2024
It’s a well-deserved honor.
Carter ended the 2024 regular season with 33 solo tackles, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles.
With two sacks against Maryland, he became the first Penn State player to reach double digit sacks since Carl Nassib accomplished that feat in 2015. Even more impressively, Carter did this during his first season playing defensive end at the college level. He spent his first two seasons at linebacker, where he was a first-team all-conference performer in 2023.
CARTER FOR HEISMAN?
Abdul Carter strikes the Heisman pose.
The Heisman Trophy has been presented annually to the America’s top college football player since before the U.S. entered World War II, and only one defensive player has won the award. Michigan’s Charles Woodson accomplished that feat in 1997, and Colorado’s Travis Hunteris likely to accomplish it this year.
But Woodson and Hunter each play on offense, too, with them both being defensive backs/wide receivers.
A guy like Carter, who only plays defense, has never won.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Some— such as Ohio State defensive end Chase Young in 2019– have been finalists. But none have won.
Carter wants that to change. That’s why he struck the pose after his second sack against Maryland.
“I just feel like there’s a lot of hype and the offensive players are recognized as the best player in the country,” Carter said after the Maryland game. “But there’s also defensive players who make just as much of an impact as the offensive players.”
“That’s real talk,” DT Dvon J-Thomas interjected. “You are one of them for sure.”
Carter continued.
“I feel like, (Boise State RB) Ashton Jeanty, Travis Hunter, they are great players in their own respect but I impact the game just as much, if not more than them. I feel like defensive players should start getting the same recognition, and we don’t. The Heisman is the top player in the country, the best player in the country, and I feel like I’m that.”
BEST VS. BEST
EUGENE, OR – OCTOBER 12: Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) runs for a 27-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter during a college football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks on October 12, 2024, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.(Photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire)
This Saturday, Carter will be going up against the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year, Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel. The Big Ten Championship Game is scheduled to kick off at 8 on Fox from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Carter is the first Penn State player to win Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year since Devon Still accomplished that feat in 2011. He’s the fifth PSU player to win it overall, the previous four all being defensive linemen.
