Clemson's Barrett Carter named to 2024 'All-Returners' team |
Pro Football Focus assembled its top-rated players returning for the 2024 season into one team, and
one Clemson defender made the list.
That is All-ACC standout and 2023 preseason All-American Barrett Carter. "Carter was the top linebacker prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft entering the season before surprising many by returning for his senior year," PFF's Max Chadwick said. "While his junior season didn’t quite live up to what he showed as a sophomore (70.6 PFF grade in 2023 compared to 81.4 in 2022), Carter’s entire body of work over the last two years still earns him one of the top spots on this list. "No returning Power Five linebacker since 2022 has been more valuable than Carter according to PFF’s wins above average metric. He’s especially dominant on passing downs, as he’s the only one in that same group with 80-plus grades as both a pass rusher and run defender in that span. Carter is a supreme athlete who can re-enter first-round conversations with a bounceback 2024 campaign." Carter is PFF's No. 2 linebacker overall, trailing only LSU's Harold Perkins. Rising sophomore defensive lineman Peter Woods just missed the PFF All-Returners cut but did rank No. 4 among PFF's top interior defensive linemen. "Woods is the first rising true sophomore to crack the top 10 of these position rankings, let alone the top five. Even though the former five-star recruit had to compete for playing time with two interior defensive linemen who could end up being Day 2 picks in 2024, Ruke Orhorhoro and Tyler Davis, the freshman still shined," said Chadwick. "Woods was third among FBS defensive tackles in pass-rush win rate (17.1%) and seventh in PFF run-defense grade (88.6). His 87.6 PFF grade was the third-best we’ve seen by a true freshman interior defensive lineman since we began charting college football in 2014. The only two above him were Dexter Lawrence and Ed Oliver in 2016, who each currently make over $15 million a year from their respective teams. "Expect Woods to become much more of a household name as a full-time starter in 2024."
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