At this point, everybody who follows Penn State football knows Abdul Carter is elite, and that includes opposing coaches.
Tuesday morning, SMU coach Rhett Lashlee was askedโ by meโ about Carterโs impact.
Even for those who havenโt watched Carter play, the numbers speak for themselves.
He became the first Penn State player in almost a decade to reach double-digit sacks (he has 10 on the dot) and is third in the nation in tackles for loss (20), doing all of it in his first season as a defensive end. Lashlee was impressed with multiple of Carterโs teammates but agrees with everybody else that Penn Stateโs latest No. 11 is cut from a different cloth.
WHAT LASHLEE SAID
Abdul Carter would tally two sacks and two tackles-for-loss against Maryland.
Lashlee said Carter is โthe best defensive playerโ heโs faced during his time at SMU based on the film heโs watched.
โThe other couple of ends (Dani Dennis-Sutton and Amin Vanover) are really special. If they didnโt have Abdul, weโd be worried about them. We are worried about them. But Abdul is so dominant,โ Lashlee said. โHeโs physical, he flies around and makes plays, and then they move him to defensive end this year, and heโs got as good a get off as anybody in college football. Thereโs a reason heโs a top-five, top-10 pick in the upcoming draft. And on top of it, our tackles have to deal with the noise of trying to hear the snap count, and so thereโs a lot of things in his favor that he doesnโt need, on top of the fact that heโs just probably as talented a pass rusher as there is.
โBut thatโs not all he is. Heโs an all-around player, and what really stands out to me is his motor. He plays the game the right way. You got a lot of respect for how hard he plays. Heโll chase down plays from the backside. So just like we got issues with with Tyler Warren and a lot of other guys on their offense, weโve got some we got our work cut out for us on their defensive front and really their overall team speed on defense.โ
โTHE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN THE COUNTRYโ
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
Unsurprisingly, Penn State DC Tom Allen is on the list of Carterโs fans.
Hours after Lashlee spoke about Carter, Allen did the same.ย
โI believe heโs the best defensive player in the country,โ he said. โHeโs proven that each week. This game against SMU is going to be another opportunity for him to do what he does best, which is to disrupt. โฆ Excited for him to play his best football here on Saturday.โ
Penn State and SMU are scheduled to play at noon on TNT and HBO Max Saturday.
