Star Penn State defender not visible at Sunday’s pre-Orange Bowl practice: notes

STATE COLLEGE Star Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter was not present at the portion of practice open to the media Wednesday inside Holuba Hall.

The junior, who leads Penn State with 21.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks, exited in the second quarter of last weeks 31-14 win over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Carter appeared to have left arm or shoulder discomfort, later donning a sleeve, and returned to the Penn State sideline without a helmet for the rest of the game.

He ended the College Football Playoff quarterfinal without recording a tackle.

Penn State moved on over the Broncos without Carter, but his presence would be significantly more impactful in the Orange Bowl against No.

7 Notre Dame this Thursday.

The Fighting Irish boast one of the nations best offensive lines and a mobile quarterback.

Outside of rushing the passer, one of Carters most valuable roles has been acting as a quarterback spy to prevent long scrambles.

Irish signal caller Riley Leonard has run for 831 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.

Its possible Carter participated in practice outside of the medias viewing window, but his absence during positional drills is somewhat discouraging for his availability this week.

However, coach James Franklin offered a more positive update Saturday, seeming to indicate it will be a matter of pain tolerance for Carter against Notre Dame .

Hes doing great.

His attitude is great.

His mentality has been really good.

Well see, but I think hes taken the right approach and mentality, Franklin said.

Really, its going to come down to how he feels and how much practice hes able to get during the week.

At this point, I dont think theres anything that is stopping him from playing.

But its just going to come down to how is he able to play.

If Carter cant go, fifth-year senior Amin Vanover would see a step up in defensive end snaps.

Vanover played the best game of his career against Boise State, corralling a career-high six tackles, a forced fumble and a massive fourth-quarter sack .

Veteran Smith Vilbert would also factor into the rotation, while freshman Max Granville would see snaps in special third-down packages.

Well see.

His mentality is great.

Got a big smile on his face.

I think hes excited about this week, but its too early to say at this stage, Franklin said.

...Abdul is going about things the right way, and well see how this thing plays out.

Penn State will travel Tuesday to Miami for Thursdays Orange Bowl, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m.

on ESPN.

Here are a few more brief notes from Sundays practice.

Safety Jaylen Reed and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton both participated in drills in front of media.

Both key defenders were banged up at times against Boise State, but they appear to be ready for this week.

Defensive ends as a group were working on batting passes down at the line of scrimmage, jumping and swatting at soccer balls thrown by position coach Deion Barnes.

Notre Dames passing attack is not particularly explosive, so perhaps there will be opportunities to disrupt short passes.

Redshirt freshman defensive back Lamont Payne Jr.

was wearing the No.

0 of Notre Dames Xavier Watts for the scout team.

Though Payne has yet to make much on-field impact at Penn State, hell have an important role acting as one of the nations best DBs this week.

Penn State has 14 early enrollees from the 2025 recruiting class already on campus.

They were wearing No.

00 jerseys with their last names on them, participating in practice in minimal capacities.

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