AC Carter enters his second season with Carolina as the outside linebackers coach and first with the added title of run game specialist. He joined the Panthers after spending two seasons (2023-24) with the Los Angeles Rams as their assistant defensive line coach. Carter boasts 11 years of coaching experience, including five in the NFL.

AC Carter enters his second season with Carolina as the outside linebackers coach and first with the added title of run game specialist. He joined the Panthers after spending two seasons (2023-24) with the Los Angeles Rams as their assistant defensive line coach. Carter boasts 11 years of coaching experience, including five in the NFL.

In 2025 with the Panthers, Carter's unit contributed to a defense that tied for the 10th-most takeaways in the league (21), improving from 17th in the previous season. Carter oversaw the development of rookie Nic Scourton, who appeared in all 17 games (eight starts) and recorded a team-high-tying 5.0 sacks, marking the third-most sacks by a Panthers rookie in team history,trailing Brian Burns (7.5 in 2019) and Julius Peppers (12 in 2002).

Working with a young defensive line in his second season with the Rams (2024), Carter helped defensive end Kobie Turner build on his rookie season as the first-year team captain recorded 8.0 sacks and 62 total tackles. His 10 tackles for loss were a career-high, while his four multi-sack games in his first two seasons tied him with Sean Gilbert for the most by a Ram. Carter also helped bring out the success of a notable rookie. Defensive end Braden Fiske finished with 8.5 sacks, the third-most by a rookie in franchise history, while his three multi-sack games were the most by a Rams' rookie. Fiske joined Shaquille Leonard as the only two players since 2000 to record at least 6.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in their first 11 games.

In his first season in Los Angeles (2023), Carter helped the Rams defense rank in the top half of the league in opponent rushing yards allowed, rushing touchdowns allowed and defensive total rush EPA. He also played an essential role in the development of rookie defensive lineman Kobie Turner, who had a record-breaking first season and became a finalist for the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Turner finished the regular season with 9.0 sacks, tying Aaron Donald for the most sacks by a rookie in Rams history and becoming the only rookie in franchise history to lead the team in sacks. Among rookies in 2023, Turner finished first in sacks, third in quarterback hits, tied for fourth in tackles for loss, fifth in pressures and hurries, eighth in tackles and 10th in snaps played. In his final season, perennial All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald passed Pat Swilling for 28th all-time in NFL history in sacks, and Julius Peppers for the third-most tackles for loss in NFL history. Donald finished the 2023 season ranked ninth in pressures and tied for fourth in hurries.

Carter joined the Rams after spending the 2022 season as the defensive quality control coach for the Denver Broncos. He coached a top-10 defensive unit in Denver that finished the 2022 season sixth in yards per play (5.04), seventh in yards allowed per game (320.0), 10th in rush yards allowed per game (109.8), 11th in yards per rush (4.26) and 12th in pass yards allowed per game (210.2). The Broncos' defense also ranked second in opponent third down conversion rate (34.1%), seventh in opponent red zone efficiency (51.1%) and tied for 10th in interceptions (15).

Prior to joining the Broncos staff, Carter spent two seasons as a graduate assistant and defensive assistant at the University of Kansas and was set to become the defensive line coach at the University of Tennessee Martin before deciding to join the Broncos' staff.

Before his time with the Jayhawks, Carter coached the defensive tackles at Hampton University (2019), where he mentored two All-Big South Conference players, Andy Matthews and Desmond Sturdivant, and his unit contributed to a defense that ranked second in the conference in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,788), third in sacks (29), and tied for third in yards per rush (4.51).

Carter spent two seasons at Eastern Illinois (2017-18) where he served as a graduate assistant and director of football operations (2017) before being promoted to defensive line coach (2018).During his tenure at Eastern Illinois, Carter guided two players to All-Ohio Valley conference honors: defensive end David Johnson (2017) and defensive lineman Levi Watson (2018).

In addition to his five years coaching at the collegiate level, Carter also spent two years coaching high school football in Louisiana. Prior to joining the Eastern Illinois coaching staff, Carter was an offensive line and tight ends coach at Riverdale High School (2016) after serving as assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator at Sophie B. Wright Charter School (2015).

Carter graduated from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in human performance education. He also earned a master's degree in technology from Eastern Illinois in 2018.

Coaching Career:

• 2015 | Sophie B. Wright (La.) Charter School - Assistant Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator
• 2016 | Riverdale (La.) High School - Offensive Line/Tight Ends
• 2017 | Eastern Illinois - Graduate Assistant
• 2018 | Eastern Illinois - Defensive Line
• 2019 | Hampton - Defensive Tackles
• 2020-21 | Kansas - Graduate Assistant/Defensive Assistant
• 2022 | Denver Broncos - Defensive Quality Control
• 2023-24 | Los Angeles Rams - Assistant Defensive Line
• 2025 | Carolina Panthers - Outside Linebackers
• 2026-Pres. | Carolina Panthers - Outside Linebackers/Run Game Specialist