Film Study - Abdul Carter's Ceiling

[CaliLION79]

ABDUL CARTER FILM STUDY

See Link. Disclaimer: we purposely cut out all of Carter's pass rush 'seek and destroy' highlights so that we could better gauge how he fared in the standard down aspects of playing linebacker and the rare third down situations where he dropped into coverage . He's already an elite blitzer, so while it would have been fun to go through all that (and maybe better for our overall views lol), we wanted to shine a light on everything else to identify where he's at development-wise. Basically, when you take away all the sizzle, how much down-to-down "steak" is in Carter's game.

 

[lazydave841]

Essentially, for as good as Carter was as a true freshman (he was very good), if he can clean up some minor things (the opening he had to tackle JJ on the final clip, perfect illustration that we weren't blown up on every play) he will be an excellent LB.

This is where Manny will earn his keep this fall. Does he teach our guys to improve on their mistakes and misses? Or do they rely solely on athleticism?

Great video. Thanks again.

 

[Trose75]

Love these...but any reason why Carter struggled in pass coverage? Seemed like he was in position to make a play a lot of times (rose bowl td for example) but just didn't make the play. Feels like this is a facet of his game that should/could take a big leap this year

 

[lazydave841]

Love these...but any reason why Carter struggled in pass coverage? Seemed like he was in position to make a play a lot of times (rose bowl td for example) but just didn't make the play. Feels like this is a facet of his game that should/could take a big leap this year

True freshman. Didn't enroll early. Toughest facet of being a box LB. Stover is a pretty good pass catching TE as well. He set him up for a longer route and Carter's feet took him out of the play. Stroud recognized it presnap most likely. Seemed to be the first read, second perhaps but I think he tried to use his eyes to keep safety help off the TE.

Should definitely improve this year. How much it does will be exponential in our defensive growth.

Expect Rojas to suffer similarly in such situations, primarily because he was a DE in HS who just happens to have Sam LB athleticism.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Love these...but any reason why Carter struggled in pass coverage? Seemed like he was in position to make a play a lot of times (rose bowl td for example) but just didn't make the play. Feels like this is a facet of his game that should/could take a big leap this year

Carter was better against the pass than Micah was as a freshmen. He doesn't have Micah's top end talent but will be really good in time. At the end of the day, I think his ceiling (at Penn State) is probably inline with Navorro Bowman (who was the best linebacker in the Big Ten in 08 and 2nd best behind Sean Lee in 09). That would make him easily the best linebacker during the Franklin era. Much like Bowman, I expect him to end up playing inside in the pros.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Essentially, for as good as Carter was as a true freshman (he was very good), if he can clean up some minor things (the opening he had to tackle JJ on the final clip, perfect illustration that we weren't blown up on every play) he will be an excellent LB.

This is where Manny will earn his keep this fall. Does he teach our guys to improve on their mistakes and misses? Or do they rely solely on athleticism?

Great video. Thanks again.

History says they will mostly rely on athleticism. But, he has some instincts. The biggest question for this year is what happens now that opposing coordinators have a year of film on Diaz's defense and how to they adjust? Off the top of my head, Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa (to a degree) have the ability to make adjustments without altering their offenses. Not sure about WVU or Northwestern at this point. Not that Northwestern actually matters. Diaz's defense was very new to the Big Ten in 2022, but there is ten plus years of film out there.

 

[lazydave841]

Diaz's defense was very new to the Big Ten in 2022, but there is ten plus years of film out there.

The ability of the middle of this defense to hold up to the run will determine how far this team can go UNLESS the offense exceeds expectations with a new QB and an unproven WR group.

Considering we didn't get good LB play as a whole until they moved Jacobs back to Sam and made Carter the starting Will (and experience), I think that the defense could take another step forward. In addition to the starters being better as a group, at least we shouldn't have to shudder when the backups come on the field this year.

 

[bvillebaron]

History says they will mostly rely on athleticism. But, he has some instincts. The biggest question for this year is what happens now that opposing coordinators have a year of film on Diaz's defense and how to they adjust? Off the top of my head, Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa (to a degree) have the ability to make adjustments without altering their offenses. Not sure about WVU or Northwestern at this point. Not that Northwestern actually matters. Diaz's defense was very new to the Big Ten in 2022, but there is ten plus years of film out there.

Ever occur to you that Diaz might make adjustments as well. You are priceless, simply priceless.

 

[RickinDayton]

Ever occur to you that Diaz might make adjustments as well. You are priceless, simply priceless.

I recall the coaches saying one of the breakdowns against Michigan's running game was the failure of the DL to maintain gap discipline. Hopefully that gets rectified. We shall see against WVU, Illinois & Iowa.

 

[pennstatepelly]

Ever occur to you that Diaz might make adjustments as well. You are priceless, simply priceless.

Priceless may be the best possible word you could have used.

 

[blair10]

Carter was better against the pass than Micah was as a freshmen. He doesn't have Micah's top end talent but will be really good in time. At the end of the day, I think his ceiling (at Penn State) is probably inline with Navorro Bowman (who was the best linebacker in the Big Ten in 08 and 2nd best behind Sean Lee in 09). That would make him easily the best linebacker during the Franklin era. Much like Bowman, I expect him to end up playing inside in the pros.

Glad you qualified your statement by using the phrase ”best linebacker during the Franklin era”.

In terms of the Micah Parsons comparison, I hope you kept in mind that fact that Micah Parsons played at Penn State for 2 years only.

Parsons was basically on training wheels his freshman year and was not a high impact player until the end of his freshman season. Parsons second year was much better and he showcased his enormous potential at the very end in the bowl game.

Because of Parson’s very limited body of work (at Penn State), I believe Abdul Carter‘s ceiling (in the college game) will be higher than Parsons and Bowman, assuming Carter plays 3 full years at Penn State.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Ever occur to you that Diaz might make adjustments as well. You are priceless, simply priceless.

It did, but that is not Diaz's MO based on his track record which spans more than ten years and several jobs.

 

[Wallace Breen]

I recall the coaches saying one of the breakdowns against Michigan's running game was the failure of the DL to maintain gap discipline. Hopefully that gets rectified. We shall see against WVU, Illinois & Iowa.

What you are talking about is a feature of the scheme Dias runs. The same problem has plagued him his entire career. Dynamic blocking schemes are kryptonite. And the line got man handled seven ways to Sunday against Michigan. It wasn't jut gap integrity. The game was JV vs. Varsity.

 

[bison13]

The ceiling is the floor

 

[blair10]

ABDUL CARTER FILM STUDY

See Link. Disclaimer: we purposely cut out all of Carter's pass rush 'seek and destroy' highlights so that we could better gauge how he fared in the standard down aspects of playing linebacker and the rare third down situations where he dropped into coverage . He's already an elite blitzer, so while it would have been fun to go through all that (and maybe better for our overall views lol), we wanted to shine a light on everything else to identify where he's at development-wise. Basically, when you take away all the sizzle, how much down-to-down "steak" is in Carter's game.

I watched this film study a couple times. Aside from the focus on Abdul Carter, I couldn’t help but notice how bad the Penn State defensive coaching was in the Michigan game.

The combination of poor execution by the players and a horrible defensive strategy resulted in the worst physical beatdown since the Sept 25, 2004 Wisconsin loss in Madison. In that 16-3 loss Erasmus James knocked out of the game 2 Penn State QBs (Zack Mills and Michael Robinson).