Blue White Illustrated

K I C K O F F I S S U E or Penn State tight end Kyle Carter, this is it. The Delaware native has been a Nit- tany Lion since 2011. He has enjoyed the highs of a consensus freshman All-Amer- ica season and endured the lows of a 16- catch junior campaign, and now only 13 games remain, at most. "This is the last go-round. I'm excited, I really am," he said. "There's a lot of ex- citement around this program right now. I feel like I improved a lot in the off- season, so I'm just definitely excited to prove it this year." The sense of needing to prove something is the byproduct of two seasons in which Carter struggled to find any real consis- tency. After catching 36 passes for 453 yards in 2012, he saw those totals cut in half the following year, in part because of an elbow injury he suffered in the season opener against Syracuse. He finished his redshirt sophomore season with 18 catches for 222 yards, and his numbers declined again last fall, as his 16 catches yielded a career-low 153 yards. James Franklin was only present for the most recent of those three seasons, but he could sense last year that Carter was putting a lot of pressure on himself to perform. "There were some plays last year that he could have made that he didn't make for whatever reason," Franklin said. "What you try to do is talk to the guys about having a short memory. If you make a mistake or don't make a play, you let it go. I don't think he did a good job of that last year. He was kind of hard on himself." Carter bounced back from his quiet reg- ular season, catching three passes for 30 yards against Boston College in the Pin- stripe Bowl, including a 10-yard touch- down reception in overtime that set up Sam Ficken's winning PAT. With his per- formance in the Nittany Lions' 31-30 vic- tory, Carter put a memorable coda on what was otherwise a disappointing year. But as he prepares for his final season at Penn State, he is putting Franklin's short-memory mantra to good use, refusing to dwell on either the negatives or the posi- tives from his junior year. Franklin might prefer that the fifth-year senior look back on his dramatic catch against Boston College as a sign that he's got his playmaking mojo back, but Carter isn't doing a whole lot of looking back these days. He just wants to move on. "Honestly, I'm not even trying to talk about last year. I'm all about this year," he said. "It happened, I got experience from it. I'm turning whatever last year was into a positive and just trying to move forward to do the best I can this year every play. "I can't use that [catch] the rest of my career. This is a whole new year. It's basi- cally forgotten now in my head." Calling the upcoming season "do-or- die time" for himself and the team, Carter acknowledged just how much turmoil he and his fellow fifth-year seniors have en- dured during their careers at Penn State. He said he's hoping this is the best season they will have collectively. But to reach that level, Franklin said Carter will need to block more consistently while also con- tinuing to refine the most impressive facet of his game: his ability to get open down- field. Said Franklin, "There's that fine line in allowing him to take advantage of his strengths in knowing how to run routes and get open in the field, but also still staying within the discipline and the struc- ture of the route." Franklin is optimistic that Carter will be able to do just that. He said the veteran pass-catcher has "very natural ball skills" and "a really good understanding of how to get open." He's hoping that Carter is able to parlay those abilities into the best season of his career. "Kyle is the wily vet who's been around for a long time now," Franklin said. "You'd love for him to put it all together his senior year." ■ Reluctant to look back, Carter eyes big finish | FORWARD THINKERS Franklin sees Carter as a potential playmaker for the Lions this season. Photo by Steve Manuel F

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