NEW YORK In a quiet Lasch Football Building the weekend before camp started in August Penn State tight end Kyle Carter sat quietly talking about the upcoming season.
After about 30 minutes he revealed that his only goal was to work hard and make it through the season healthy. How ever many catches and yards that equated to would be figured out later. A wrist injury cut short his breakout redshirt freshman season in 2012 one when he was the only freshman named to the John Mackey Award midseason watch list. The following year he caught just 18 passes for 222 yards.
Everybody coins the word sophomore slump or whatever and I heard plenty of that he said in the summer.
Fast forward nearly five months to Yankee Stadium for the Nittany Lions season finale and he made the 10 yard touchdown catch in overtime that sent Penn State into a celebration. It was Carter s 16th catch and first touchdown of the season. It was hardly the season he envisioned but to this point nothing has come easy for this former Bear Del. standout and he learned to embrace the journey.
He s an example of things aren t always going to exactly how you imagined it to go but you keep working hard keep a positive attitude good things will come Penn State coach James Franklin said after the Pinstripe Bowl overtime victory against Boston College. I wouldn t trade that catch for 20 other catches during the season or however many yards. That was a huge catch.
Before getting to Penn State Carter lost one of his biggest fans. In his senior year at William Penn High School Carter s father the man who introduced his son to football and the one who told the teary eyed sixth grader at his first practice to get back on the field passed away from brain cancer.
He already knew I was going to Penn State and all that said Carter who has a tattoo with a football helmet wings and a halo on his shoulder in honor of his father. He was cool with Penn State and he was excited. He was going to be at every single game like my mom too.
Carter s mom Charlene went to Penn State and while Kyle wasn t high on the radar for many teams he attended Penn State football camp as a defensive end in ninth grade. Unsure if he was a basketball player or football player he also played along the offensive line where his coach saw him catching passes in practice one day and decided to add a tackle pass to the playbook.
He played receiver and tight end after that garnering enough attention for the Nittany Lions to offer him a scholarship.
Somebody asked me the question like before I committed What are you waiting for And I didn t really have an answer he said with a smile.
A member of Penn State s 2011 recruiting class who dubbed themselves the Supa Six Carter redshirted as a freshman and didn t play a down before the sanctions came out. Sitting in the same Lasch Building lounge two years later one where recliners and televisions divide the room he could now laugh when recalling teammates discussing what schools were courting them.
Everybody was talking about Yeah Bama called me Arizona State and I m just looking at my phone with nothing on it and I m like Well I guess I m just staying here he said.
Carter said he looks at all he has been through as blessings. Teammate Bill Belton said his easy going friend is the nicest person you ll ever meet and said he knows other teammates would agree.
After his touchdown Saturday teammates swarmed him and told him how happy there were to see him be the guy on the end of Christian Hackenberg s pass.
A lot of people are proud of me I m proud of myself he said. Going into the offseason that s definitely a big thing.
Audrey Snyder asnyder post gazette.com and Twitter audsnyder4.
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