Abdul Carter was not — at least according to college football’s official awards and accolades — the best defensive player in the nation last season.

The Penn State junior defensive end didn’t win the trophies named after Chuck Bednarik and Bronko Nagurski that are given to the nation’s best defender. He didn’t win the Ted Hendricks Award for the best defensive end. Carter was voted the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous All-American, but a whole other defensive player, Colorado cornerback (slash wide receiver) Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy as the best overall player in college football.

Carter was also not the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft, nor was he the first defensive player selected (another honor that went to Hunter). And yet a popular opinion among many draft experts, NFL scouts, and college analysts was that Carter was the most promising prospect in the ’25 draft class. After being chosen No. 3 overall by the New York Giants, he’s currently the betting favorite to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

According to Vegas Insider’s most recent update, Carter has the best odds to win Defensive ROY, ahead of Atlanta Falcons linebacker Jalon Walker (from Georgia), Hunter, and San Francisco 49ers defensive end Mykel Williams (Georgia). Hunter is also the consensus third-highest favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. While Hunter’s two-way excellence comes with a bit of “wait and see” trepidation due to its rare occurrence in the NFL, and No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward has to make the always-tough transition to playing quarterback in the league, Carter is perhaps the safest bet to make the biggest immediate impact for his pro team.

Carter was born and raised Muslim in the Philadelphia area. He was a four-star recruit in high school who chose to stay local at Penn State rather than accept scholarship offers from SEC schools like LSU, South Carolina, and Kentucky. In three years with the Nittany Lions, he recorded 23 sacks and forced five fumbles. Penn State won the Rose Bowl in Carter’s freshman year, and lost in the Peach Bowl in his sophomore year as the 10th-ranked team in the nation. In his junior year, Carter helped lead Penn State to the newly expanded College Football Playoff, where the team defeated SMU in the first round and Boise State in the quarterfinals before falling to Notre Dame in the national championship semifinals. Carter could’ve returned to school for his senior year, but entered the NFL draft as arguably the top player on the board.

On April 24th, Carter made his red-carpet arrival at the draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin, wearing a black thobe and talked about his religion.

At the pro level, Carter will be expected to follow in the footsteps of former Penn State star pass rushers like LaVar Arrington and Micah Parsons; with the Giants, he steps into a legacy that includes Lawrence Taylor and Michael Strahan; and as a Muslim NFL player, he could be the next in a lineage of standouts that includes Muhammad Wilkerson and Ahmad Rashad.