Penn State's Abdul Carter is thriving after transitioning from linebacker to defensive end

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Abdul Carter is having the most fun he’s ever had playing football and his teammates on No. 3 Penn State’s defense are feeling the effects.

Sure, they’ve enjoyed Carter’s violent pass rushes, sideline-to-sideline tackling, and his stern, crossed-arms, nodding-head celebration.

Above all, they love the space Carter’s mere presence provides them as Penn State’s opponents have had to account more for the rangy linebacker-turned-end this season.

Carter leads Penn State’s fourth-ranked defense with four sacks and 9 1/2 tackles for loss. He’s contributed to others that don’t show up in his own stat line.

“You peep my blitzes?” safety Jaylen Reed asked, hinting with a grin at his own growing sack count. “They double team Abdul, I don’t know why they leave me, but hey, it helps me. It helps a lot of us.”

The Nittany Lions (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) expect that trend to continue against No. 4 Ohio State (6-1, 3-1) on Saturday in a game that will have massive Big Ten championship and playoff implications.

Penn State may already have a leg up. The Buckeyes could be short blockers to throw at Carter who’ll line up anywhere along defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s front on any given down and distance.

Ohio State already lost starting left tackle Josh Simmons to a season-ending injury at Oregon on Oct. 12. Zen Michalski took over protecting quarterback Will Howard’s blindside, but suffered an apparent leg injury last week against Nebraska. He is questionable this week according to Ohio State coach Ryan Day.

Day knows the timing is bad.

“You certainly have to know where (Carter) is on the field,” Day said. “He’s dynamic. Whether it’s the run game or the pass game, you have to do a really good job with him.”

That’s what Allen is doing now.

After some quick discussion with Carter and the rest of the staff after he was hired to replace Manny Diaz in the offseason, Allen agreed Carter should move up from linebacker, where he played his first two seasons, to defensive end.

Allen wanted to boost the team’s defensive end corps after stars Adisa Isaac and Chop Robinson moved on to the NFL. He also thought he could maximize the 251-pound Carter’s potential.

“I think you can see his comfort level at edge, or defensive end is growing each week,” Allen said. “We’ll continue to enhance ways of utilizing him in different ways, but he’s been very impactful, TFLs, sacks, just doing a great job of making offenses account for him in every way, having specific game plans to block him, which is pretty obvious.”

It’s common for Carter to feel the full force of an offense’s edge protection on passing downs. Offensive tackles try to lock him up while receivers assist with crackback blocks. Running backs are often called on to chip him, too.

Even though teams are throwing more his way, Carter has learned to adapt. Although he’d like his sack total to be higher, he’s found other ways to menace opponents. He’s broken up three passes, forced a fumble and tallied three quarterback hurries.

Meanwhile, Reed and fellow defensive back Cam Miller have zipped freely past a double-teamed Carter to combine for 2 1/2 sacks. Defensive linemen Zane Durant and Dani Dennis-Sutton have also broken out with a combined 4 1/2 sacks and 10 tackles for loss.

“Don’t matter who it is, you put extra attention on me you’re going to leave someone else one-on-one and they’re going to win their one-on-one,” Carter said.

Carter’s future was clear to Reed the moment the elder safety first saw him in action as a freshman in 2022. Not only did Carter’s size stand out, his quickness and nose for the quarterback were notable.

“When he came in here and he was making all the plays, if you really noticed and watched the plays, he made all his plays off blitzing and winning one-on-ones,” Reed said. “Since then, I knew. And he was already 250 pounds, so it was like, that’s got to be his natural position.”

Now that he’s there, Carter couldn’t be happier.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing football,” Carter said. “To be able to play free, be on the edge, rush the passer, do what I do best, I’m having a lot of fun.”

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Travis Johnson, The Associated Press