Penn State's 'F' and 'Y' system

STATE COLLEGE - Sure, Kyle Carter and Garry Gilliam aren't exactly Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.

But coach Bill O'Brien already made it clear not to expect his tight ends at Penn State to compare to the incredible duo he coached with the New England Patriots in 2011, and for what's expected of them, O'Brien's tight ends have been effective in his system.

O'Brien brought with him to Penn State a system that starts "F" and "Y" tight ends, who are redshirt freshman Carter and redshirt junior Gilliam, respectively. The responsibility of "F" is to run more routes and catch passes, while the "Y" is expected to block more and catch mainly short passes with about a 60-40 ratio.

In Saturday's 24-14 loss to Ohio at Beaver Stadium, the system made its debut and worked pretty effectively. Carter caught six passes for 74 yards and redshirt junior Matt Lehman, who is the Y/F tight end on the depth chart, had a 14-yard touchdown reception as the offense collected 352 total yards.

Gilliam, meanwhile, had no catches, concentrating on blocking.

Carter has had a quick rise to a starting spot after redshirting last season. The 6-3, 247-pound Bear, Del., native had the highest amount of yards per catch (12.3) of any receiver with at least two catches against Ohio.

He said he worked incredibly hard to earn his way into the starting spot. O'Brien noted that Carter is good on and off the field.

"He's a very instinctive player," O'Brien said. "He's 19 years old, so he's really only experienced 6 months of [director of strength and conditioning Craig Fitzgerald's program] and then he goes out there on Saturday and has a productive game for us and really can't wait to practice on Monday because he knows how much better he can get."

Senior tackle Mike Farrell spoke about how the tight end system operated from an on-the-field perspective. He said the tight ends have become more dynamic.

"From an offensive line standpoint, there's a lot of times that we'll have a tight end on the line and we'll also have one of the other ones off the line," Farrell said. "When they're more in the backfield, it definitely contributes to what we do on our offense, but from an offensive line standpoint, it's not something that's always kind of interconnected to what we're doing. It's good to have the tight ends in there for the running game and especially for pass protection."

For Saturday's road game at Virginia, Carter might be getting less receptions, as O'Brien noted that he has to do a better job of balancing the run and pass games.

Against Ohio, Penn State passed the ball 48 times and ran it 22 times.

At his press conference on Tuesday, O'Brien said he no longer refers to non-scholarship players as "walk-ons," but as "run-ons" because of the hustle they display.

Starting quarterback Matt McGloin, a former "walk-on," had something to say about the term in a Wednesday teleconference.

'"Walk-on' is a stupid term to begin with," McGloin, Penn State's redshirt senior quarterback, said. "I don't agree with it, I don't agree with the meaning behind it."

Penn State will have to rely a bit on non-scholarship players for the next few years, as the NCAA took away scholarships over the next four seasons as part of sanctions levied against the school.

"I don't feel comfortable calling anybody 'walk-on.' I've never done that. I've never treated anybody differently because they were a walk-on or a scholarship player," McGloin said. "When you get here, you still have to earn the right to play, in my opinion. So, I don't agree with 'walk-on,' 'run-on,' scholarship player, it doesn't matter to me at all."

Big Ten assistant commissioner Scott Chipman confirmed a report on Wednesday that both Penn State and Ohio State will be eligible for the trophy of the Big Ten Leaders Division even though both schools are ineligible for postseason play this year.

"If a team plays all eight games, and if all eight games count, and that team finishes atop the division, they're considered division champions," Chipman said.

For example, if Penn State were to win the Leaders Division, Ohio State were to finish second and another school (either Indiana, Illinois, Purdue or Wisconsin) finished third, then the third-place team would play in the Big Ten Championship Game against the winner of the Legends Division, while Penn State took home the Leaders Division trophy.

Chipman said a media member asked the Big Ten about the issue, they discussed it internally, and they've stuck with the way they've always done it.