Penn State lands transfer portal target receiver Devin Carter
PASADENA, Calif. — Penn State football is celebrating more than just its 35-21 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl here on Monday night. The Lions also added a player for the 2023 season out of the transfer portal.
Former North Carolina State receiver Devin Carter will join the Lions, he announced on social media late Monday night. The Clayton, N.C., native stands 6-foot-4, 205 pounds. He entered the portal on Dec. 13 and reported a Penn State offer on Dec. 15. Now, about three weeks later, he has committed to head coach James Franklin’s program.
Carter has played four college football seasons, meaning he has two years of eligibility thanks to the free COVID year granted to all players by the NCAA in 2020. In 2022, he caught 25 passes for 406 yards and two touchdowns over nine games. For his career, the receiver has made 118 receptions for 1,906 yards and 10 touchdowns. Wolfpack coach Dan Doeren had originally told reporters that Carter opted out of the bowl game to declare for the NFL Draft. But, the receiver quickly shot that down and said he had not made any decisions before entering his name into the portal.
Penn State made receiver a priority in the transfer portal
Penn State will need new leading receivers in 2022 with Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley both leaving for the NFL. KeAndre Lambert-Smith had a great springboard game in the Rose Bowl with three catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. However, he will need to be more consistent to ascend to the lead receiver role. Then, the Lions have numerous younger players who have yet to break out that hope to in 2023. However, because of the number of unknowns in the receivers room, the Lions wanted at least one and maybe two out of the portal. Carter is the first to commit.
“We plan on taking two,” receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield said. “We took essentially five freshmen receivers last year. You have Parker going to the Draft. You have Mitch that we’re losing. So, we got a lot of young guys. We signed one in this class intentionally. We could have had multiple guys committed that are commited to some other schools right now, we could have had them committed in the summer, [but] we just didn’t think that they were right for us.
“So we feel like our best way to satisfy what our need is, which is probably a little bit of some older guys, is possibly going to the transfer portal and seeing who could help us win.”
