Over his 42-game Penn State career, Abdul Carter had an indelible effect on the Nittany Lions program. It didn’t take him quite that long to make his first impact.
“I would say, his first workout on campus,” college teammate Kobe King said of Carter while both were in Indianapolis early this spring for the NFL Combine. “It was in the summertime, he was talking competitively to us. He was telling us how good he was going to be. He was telling us how hard he was going to work, what he was going to do.
“And he showed that in his first workout and in the first game that I saw him play. Since the first day, he’s been one to dominate.”
Carter dominated enough that he is expected to be among the top three players chosen in the NFL Draft that begins Thursday night. For a time believed to be in the running to go No. 1 overall, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Carter is coming off a junior season in which he led the nation with 23½ tackles for loss and added 12 sacks (seventh nationally). Those numbers came in his first college action as an edge defender after beginning his career as an inside linebacker.
Highly touted with obvious high-end talent as a high school recruit coming out of Philadelphia, Carter endeared himself to teammates with a tireless work ethic and by continuing to play during Penn State’s playoff run despite a shoulder injury. In the modern world of college athletics, a potential No. 1 overall pick nursing injury very easily could have sat out.
“Abdul’s talent is something you can’t teach,” Penn State safety Jaylen Reed said, “(but) I feel like just being with him every single day just the approach he had to each every practice… you know he always brought his ‘A’ game when it came to football. He was a great teammate, on and off the field, so I just feel like he’s going to do great things.”
Carter is most widely projected to be headed to the New York Giants at No. 3 overall — barring a trade. He has posted references to the Giants — and their iconic Hall of Fame pass rusher Lawrence Taylor — on social media.
Taylor is the most recent defensive player to win NFL MVP in 1986. Carter was arguably Penn State’s best player in his first College Football Playoff appearance. He believes he can be that for an NFL team, too.
“I feel like you definitely need a franchise edge rusher,” Carter said at the combine. “If you look at all the great teams, all the great teams that won Super Bowls, you have that one standout, great defensive player. And I feel like I’m that.”
Carter isn’t the only former Penn State defensive player who will hear his name called in Green Bay over the next three days.
King, a linebacker, is projected to be selected on Day 3. Reed and Kevin Winston Jr. are safeties who are likely to be taken in the middle rounds.
But the second Nittany Lion to be selected will be tight end Tyler Warren, who broke virtually every program record for his position during a 2024 season in which he finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting.
“What I try and do is be a guy that can kind of fit in a lot of different roles,” Warren said at the combine. “I don’t know if I have one (strength) that really sticks out the best. That’s kind of fun about the tight end position is you get to do a lot of different things within the offense.”
Winston was regarded as one of the top 2025 draft-eligible safeties when last season started. A knee injury suffered during Week 3 could have derailed that, but Winston’s draft stock doesn’t seem to have suffered too much. He is expected to be 100% for the start of NFL training camp.
Reed, in part, picked up the slack when Winston went down, showing a versatility that could help an NFL defense.
King, whose twin brother, Kalen, spent last season as a cornerback on the Green Bay practice squad, was second-team All-Big Ten in 2024.