When Abdul Carter’s name is called early in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday, a highlight package of the ultra athletic Penn State edge rusher will stream into living rooms.

But none of the 12 sacks he racked up in 2024 came in a November game against the Gophers, and Minnesota left tackle Aireontae Ersery had a lot to do with that.Draft wonk Todd McShay recently relayed an axiom from Bill Belichick and other respected talent evaluators about putting in homework on college prospects. “Study the tape that is applicable,” McShay said on a Ringer podcast.

For Ersery, the film most relevant to NFL evaluators came from those one-on-one matchups with Carter, and Minnesota’s 6-foot-6 and 331-pound standout passed the exam with flying colors.

That performance contributes to Ersery — winner of the Big Ten offensive lineman of the year award — being projected as high as a second-round pick Friday. If the Kansas City, Mo., native is taken in the draft’s opening two rounds, it will extend the Gophers’ streak of a first- or second-round selection to six straight years.

Gophers offensive line coach Brian Callahan vividly remembers the Penn State game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Week 13. He pinpointed how the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions managed only one sack — off a play-action fake by late-pursuing linebacker Tony Rojas while Carter wasn’t on the field at the end of the first quarter.

“(Ersery) did an outstanding job of basically neutralizing (Carter),” Callahan told the Pioneer Press last week. “Just in terms of his ability to handle the speed and the suddenness that (Carter) has and makes him one of the best edge prospects in this year’s draft.”

Ersery understood the assignment before the game, saying that week: “I’m the best, and I want to go out there and compete against the best.”

Of the Gophers’ 59 offensive plays, Ersery directly matched up with Carter approximately 20 times against the run and pass. Carter beat Ersery on the first running play of the game, but Ersery won roughly 17 times head to head.

Carter was credited with three quarterback pressures and one QB hit, but not directly against Ersery.

One knock against Carter is the 250-pounder lacks lower-body power, and Ersery helped create that narrative. The U’s left tackle often engulfed Carter on runs and regularly pushed him wide of QB Max Brosmer in pass protection.

Among the roughly 39 other snaps, Carter twisted inside (about 9 times), was on the sideline (8) was on opposite sides of the field from Ersery (5) or was lined up as a linebacker in A gap (3).

A run play went to the other side of the field (4 times), Carter dropped into coverage (2) or was intentionally left unblocked (2), which led to one of his pressures. A Gophers tight end — Nick Kallerup, Jameson Geers or Frank Bierman — primarily blocked Carter six times and often did so successfully. Kallerup, another NFL hopeful, was dominate against Carter early in the game.

“(Carter’s) a very, very good player as you all probably know,” Ersery said at the Gophers’ Pro Day in March. “The game plan was to not let him have a good game. … Keep it simple.”

Carter got the last laugh, though. With the Gophers trailing 26-22 with six minutes left, Minnesota dialed up trick play: a tackle throwback pass to Ersery, who ran an impressive 5.01-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. On that play, Carter didn’t rush the quarterback, was in the vicinity of Ersery and forced Brosmer into an intentional incompletion.

The U opted to kick a field goal. Then Penn State converted three fourth downs on a 12-play drive and iced the 26-25 road win.

The Penn State game was further proof of what Callahan told Ersery within his first two years on campus. Callahan drove Ersery over to the Graduate By Hilton hotel to help out with a recruiting visit for a high school prospect.

On the ride, Callahan recalled Ersery asking: “‘(Do) you think I have the ability to make it in the NFL?”

Callahan recalled his reply: “There’s no doubt in my mind that you can do it, as long as you continue to be who you are and work and be coachable.”

Both Ersery and Callahan will be validated this week, and another NFL hopeful, Gophers guard Greg Johnson, will be watching it unfold.

The rising junior spent two years with Ersery at the U, meaning the Prior Lake native has stacked a lot of memories of his teammate. He was asked at the end of spring practice to share his lasting impression.

“That’s a tough one,” Johnson said. “I mean, I would probably say the Penn State game. Obviously, we didn’t get the result we wanted; we went into that game expecting a win. But he had a tough task on his hands with Abdul Carter. He attacked it head on and dominated. That was really cool to watch.”