Note: This is the second in a weekly series previewing different aspects of Penn State’s 2023 season. You can read the offense preview here.
It’s laughable to think about how Abdul Carter’s career at Penn State got started.
Don’t remember? Let me jog your memory because I forgot about it, too.
Early in the second half of Penn State’s season opener against Purdue, Carter took his first snap of his collegiate career. Purdue’s Aiden O’Connell missed the mark on a 1-yard throw, and Carter, who clearly thought that Boilermaker wideout Tyrone Tracy had caught and then fumbled the ball, went for the pigskin squirming around on the field.
Carter’s helmet collided with Tracy’s helmet. And that was that. It was ruled targeting and Abdul Carter’s first game as Penn Stater was over before we knew it.
But now, a year later (and 12 full targeting-free games later), nobody is forgetting about Carter’s body of work as he enters his second year wearing the No. 11 on Penn State’s defense.
Carter’s body of work is a 6-foot, 3-inch, 250-pound piece to what very well could be the best defense of James Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, the biggest reason why a lot of people like you and me are excited about this 2023 campaign.
Over the course of my lifetime, and really Penn State’s history, there have been certain defensive players that you knew were just different. You could watch them and just tell.
Obviously Lavar Arrington comes to mind first but there were the Halis, the Poslusznys, the Connors, the Browns, the Parsons, the Barnes, even the 2015 Nassibs. It is those names that helped create the mythos of the Nittany Lions’ defense.
By the second or third game of the season – certainly not the first – you could see that it with Carter. He is one of those game-changing players for this defense that we will be talking about for some time to come.
Manny Diaz put it well at Penn State’s media day.
“With Abdul’s talent, if Abdul just does simple things in a simple manner, it will look extraordinary to the outside eye,” the defensive coordinator said.
And it appears that Carter, the former 4-star recruit, has the opportunity to pick up where he left off last season, becoming the first Nittany Lion freshman since Deion Barnes with more than 10 tackles for a loss and six sacks in a season. Carter doesn’t just get to pick up where he left off but to carry the torch that has been passed to him.
But the beautiful thing, and the thing that has me most excited about this Penn State roster in 2023, is that he doesn’t have to do it alone.
Look at that list of names of yesteryear, and some of those guys were pretty much on their own.
Now though, Carter, and more importantly, Penn State has a potential first-round edge rusher in Chop Robinson, a cornerback who is likely better than the cornerback from Penn State who just got drafted at No. 32 in Kalen King, and overall, the deepest defense we’ve maybe ever seen.
There have been two season-ending injuries impacting Smith Vilbert and Alozno Ford, Jr., yet no one has gravely batted an eye of concern. In previous seasons, you and I would sit here sick to our stomach, praying that Penn State could hobble to Labor Day weekend.
The defense is so deep, there are as many kings on the chess board as there are Kings wearing blue and white.
By all accounts, Kobe King, Kalen’s brother, is going to be even better this season, entering his third year of eligibility at linebacker.
And on the youth side, freshman Tony Rojas very much looked the part in the spring game while early reports are bullish on Ta’Mere Robinson.
I didn’t even mention junior Curtis Jacobs yet, who surprised some by announcing he’d return for 2023.
This is the internet. There is no limit on words. But just for fun, let’s do this Oscar-speech style: Adisa Isaac, Amin Vanover, Keaton Ellis, Johnny Dixon, [music begins to play] Cozziah Izzard, Dani Dennis-Sutton, [mic cut off] JORDAN VAN DEN BERG.
You get the point. This defense is Mariana Trench deep. And it’s Marianna Hoagie good.
Pair it with an offense that can put up points and this is the right defense at the right time. This is the type of defense you can feel safe being excited about.
This is the type of defense you make long seasons out of and Abdul Carter is the type of player who can propel you to those long seasons.
If you’ve enjoyed this content, please consider supporting StuffSomersSays.com.
