GLENDALE, ARIZONA— Penn State coach James Franklin predictably was asked about DE Abdul Carter’s status following the team’s Fiesta Bowl win.
If Carter— who suffered an apparent arm injury early in the game— can’t play in next week’s College Football Playoff semifinal, well, that would be a problem.
Carter isn’t merely Penn State’s best defensive player.
His talents, many would argue, even transcend his Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year laurels.
For many— Carter himself included— he’s the best defensive player in college football.
A player like Carter being out could be something that keeps Penn State from winning a national title. He’s that good.
So, naturally, it was a question Franklin received after the game.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.WHAT JAMES SAID
“Abdul, I don’t know a whole lot,” James Franklin said. “We’ll get that checked out and see. Obviously No. 1, the safety and health and welfare of our guys is priority number one. But then, I know Abdul will want to play next week and will do everything in his power next week if he’s able to. We’ll find out. I don’t know a whole lot more information than that.”
PENN STATE NEEDS CARTER
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 flys 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 the winner of No. 2 Georgia and No. 7 Notre Dame New Year’s Night at 7:45.
