Why Penn State's Abdul Carter could be a top-5 pick in the 2025 NFL draft

For two years, Abdul Carter was a source of stress in then-Indianacoach Tom Allen's life. In Allen's seven years at Indiana, there had been only a few players he coached against that were as disruptive as the Penn Statelinebacker.

"As an opposing coach, it was like, 'Man, where's No. 11 at?'" Allen said.

So when he took the job as Penn State's defensive coordinator in December 2023, Allen was looking forward to coaching Carter in Happy Valley. Allen had yet to meet with any of the players individually when he sat down to talk with Carter a few weeks later.

Their first interaction turned out to be an important one.

During his freshman and sophomore seasons, Carter had played primarily as an outside linebacker, but he came to Allen with a request.

"He said, 'Coach, I want to play defensive end,'" Allen said.

Carter didn't come up with the idea on a whim. The way he saw it, Allen said, was that the move would be in the best interests of both Penn State and himself. Carter thought that he could make more of a difference with a hand in the dirt, and that Penn State's deep group of linebackers would still be in position to collectively play at a high level.

Allen was intrigued. It was obvious that as a pass rusher Carter would be able to make the transition and be a force right away, but it was worth considering how the 250-pound player might hold up filling gaps in the run game against 320-pound offensive linemen.

"There was some kind of like, 'OK, is that a good decision?'" Allen said. "At the end of the day, we wanted to do what's best for both. How can he benefit? How can we make sure that we're doing what's best for Penn State?"

With coach James Franklin's blessing the change was green-lighted, and Carter helped Penn State to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. Carter became the 15th consensus All-American in program history, solidifying his legacy as an all-time great and worthy of Penn State's famed No. 11 jersey. He is now widely expected to be a top-five pick Thursday in the NFL draft.

"I just knew what I had to do and what I could do to be the most impactful for our team and for our defense," Carter said. "That's what I just tried to do, and it all worked out."

Carter arrived at Penn State as a four-star recruit in 2022, part of a celebrated class that featured quarterback Drew Allar, running back Nicholas Singleton and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, among others.

After a storied career at La Salle College High School -- where he competed in the famed Philadelphia Catholic League -- Carter came in confident, driven and ready to embrace the high expectations bestowed upon him. That was never more evident than when he took the hallowed No. 11 jersey, which has traditionally been reserved for the all-time great linebackers at a place that refers to itself as "Linebacker U."

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Carter was intimately familiar with the history of the jersey number, and when he got to campus, he asked for it. The last Nittany Lion to wear it had been Micah Parsons -- the NFL All-Pro defensive end who played linebacker in college -- and Carter had aspirations of leaving Penn State with a similar legacy.

"You definitely got to ask for it, but also you got to work for it," Carter said. "You got to earn it. Whether that's competing in the summer, competing in the winter, competing in the spring, and then at the end of the day just go ball out on the field."

Sometime after summer training during his freshman year, Carter found out the No. 11 was his. There was nothing ceremonial about it. No speech, no unveiling. He found out when all the numbers were assigned, but the significance was implied.

"He didn't really let that make him comfortable or make him content with just wearing No. 11," said linebacker Kobe King, who arrived at Penn State the year before Carter. "He actually took pride in wearing it. He took pride in his play and how he played. He wants to be great."

Talk to any of Carter's Penn State teammates about him and they'll describe him the same way: quiet, cerebral, dedicated. His outsized talent almost demanded that he become a leader, but his style was to lead by example.

Defensive line coach Deion Barnes was able to relate to Carter right away. They are both from North Philadelphia, know a lot of the same people and even played in the same Little League.

"Once I started understanding how to coach him, he listened to everything, and he'll do everything you ask him to do," Barnes said. "It was great having him in that room."

For Barnes, it was clear that Carter was studying film on his own. Every week, Carter would come to meetings with specific ideas that Barnes said the coaching staff would incorporate when formulating a game plan.

As much of a physical terror as he is, Carter takes pride in being a cerebral player. It's that sort of analytical bent that also drew him to chess. His dad introduced him to the game when he was 8 years old.

"I just kind of fell in love with it," said Carter, who started taking chess seriously at around age 15. "I love competing, and I was just thinking, outmaneuvering. I was strategizing. I eventually got good. I became better than my dad. I'm the best player on the team."

It was common to see him sitting around the facility locked in on a game of chess, often challenging teammates.

"Football is a chess game," Carter said. "It's obviously more physical, but you got to strategize, got to know what your opponent is trying to do, so it all correlates."

Allen, who has since left Penn State to be the defensive coordinator at Clemson, wasn't familiar with Carter's hobby when asked about it, but said he wasn't surprised.

"He really analyzes things well, and he sees things, and I think he can decipher play because of it," Allen said. "He likes to study film, and yeah, he's way more cerebral than what people might think."

During a standout 2023 sophomore season in which he earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, Carter established himself as a potential first-round NFL draft pick. In ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller's mock draftlast July, Carter was projected to go No. 16 overall.

From an NFL point of view, the move to defensive end made Carter more valuable, and it was just a matter of seeing whether he'd make the transition as smoothly as most people thought he would.

"I say it all the time," Penn State linebacker Dominic DeLuca said. "You can put Abdul at safety, you can put him at corner, or you can put him at defensive end. He's going to make a play. He's just a freak athlete. Just the way he moves is insane. He's going to find the ball one way or the other."

The results were, perhaps, better than expected.

Carter led the nation with 23.5 tackles for loss and finished with 12 sacks -- figures that rank No. 3 and No. 6, respectively, on Penn State's all-time single-season list -- and was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

It led to Carter's draft stock soaring.

In Miller's latest ranking of the top 600 draft prospects, Carter tops the list. Scouts Inc.'s ranking also has Carter at No. 1. He's No. 2 on Mel Kiper Jr.'s latest Big Board.

Since declaring for the draft Jan. 11, Carter has routinely labeled himself as the No. 1 overall pick on social media, but on April 11 he posted a picture of NFL great Lawrence Taylor on X, a not-so-subtle acknowledgement that he could go to the New York Giants at No. 3.

Thinking back on that first meeting with Carter, Allen remembered something prophetic from the conversation about switching positions: "He said, 'Coach, you're going to be glad we did this.'"br/]