Penn State coach James Franklin provided an encouraging update on Abdul Carter Saturday afternoon.
Carter, who is Penn State’s best defensive player, got hurt in the first half of the team’s Fiesta Bowl/College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Boise State this past Tuesday.
Whether or not Carter will be able to play in the semifinal is one of the big storylines leading into next Thursday’s Orange Bowl clash with Notre Dame.
Franklin, as usual, didn’t say for certain whether Carter would play. But Penn State fans are likely to be encouraged by what Franklin said.
WHAT JAMES SAID
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: James Franklin
“He’s doing great. His attitude is great. His mentality’s been really good. We’ll see, but I think he’s taking the right approach and mentality. Really, it’s going to come down to how he feels and how much practice he’s able to get during the week. At this point, I don’t think there’s anything that is stopping him from playing, but it’s going to come down to ‘how is he able to play.‘ We’ll see. We’ll see. But his mentality is great. He has a big smile on his face. He’s excited about this week. But it’s too early to say at this stage.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“As you guys know, I don’t usually talk about these things a whole lot. I get where we’re at. It’s an important piece and storyline. But Abdul’s going about things the right way, and we’ll see how this thing plays out.”
CARTER’S IMPACT
Abdul Carter would record 4 solo tackles in Penn State’s loss to Oregon.
Carter is a guy Penn State can’t afford to lose. He became the first Penn State player in almost a decade to reach double-digit sacks (he has 11) and leads in the nation in tackles for loss (22), doing all of it in his first season as a defensive end. Earlier this month ahead of PSU’s first playoff game against SMU, Mustangs’ coach Rhett Lashlee said he was impressed with multiple of Carter’s teammates but agrees with everybody else that Penn State’s latest No. 11 is cut from a different cloth.
“The other couple of ends (Dani Dennis-Sutton and Amin Vanover) are really special. If they didn’t have Abdul, we’d be worried about them. We are worried about them. But Abdul is so dominant,” Lashlee said.“He’s physical, he flies around and makes plays, and then they move him to defensive end this year, and he’s got as good a get-off as anybody in college football. There’s a reason he’s 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 there’s a lot of things in his favor that he doesn’t need, on top of the fact that he’s just probably as talented a pass rusher as there is.
“But that’s not all he is. He’s 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. He’ll chase down plays from the backside. So just like we got issues with Tyler Warren and a lot of other guys on their offense, we’ve got some we got our work cut out for us on their defensive front and really their overall team speed on defense.”
No. 6 Penn State plays No. 7 Notre Dame at 7:30 Jan. 9 in the Orange Bowl for a trip to the national title.
