STATE COLLEGE — Go back two years. Think back to Oct. 1, 2013.
Penn State was just beginning what would become the final year of the Bill O’Brien era, but its offense was looking every bit like the current Houston Texans coach envisioned it would.
Plenty of passing. Lots of shots downfield. Tight ends running wild, open free, in the middle of the field.
Through four games that season, Penn State had four tight ends that had caught passes. Jesse James, Matt Lehman, Kyle Carter and Adam Breneman combined to haul in 21 passes for 240 yards. That’s 11.4 yards per catch for a group that caught 26.5 percent of the completions quarterback Christian Hackenberg amassed to that point in his freshman season.
Without question, the tight end spot during the O’Brien years was seen as a deep and talented one, a position utilized by Penn State better than any other school in the Big Ten.
Just two seasons later, things have changed.
Through four games in the 2015 campaign, Penn State tight ends have caught just 11 passes for 91 yards. That’s a pedestrian 8.3 yards per catch for a group that has caught just 19.6 percent of Hackenberg’s completions.
It’s hardly a talent issue, most around the
team argue. The two tight ends who’ve caught passes this season — Carter and sophomore Mike Gesicki — either played for O’Brien or committed to play for him. The third tight end who has seen significant playing time, junior Brent Wilkerson, was a prized recruit who O’Brien felt would fit his system.
The system, though, is the difference.
“This system definitely requires you to be more of a complete tight end,” Wilkerson said. “I think with coach O’Brien’s system, he put you in positions where, I guess, it kind of put you in positions where it made whatever you did good. There were just pass catchers, and you could just do that. But in this offense, you need to do both (catch passes and block), because we’re going to run the ball. You better be able to block, regardless. There’s no way around it. If you don’t block, you can’t play.
“This coaching staff makes you be good at both. Coach O’Brien, you could be good at one and get away with it.”
The work of the tight ends in both pass protection and run blocking has been a focal point early on.
In the spring, Franklin put the spotlight on the group, essentially questioning why he’d put a tight end who couldn’t block on the field when he could, instead, simply insert a faster receiver who could pose other problems for defenses.
Wilkerson and Gesicki struggled in pass protection, as most of the offensive line and running backs did, against Temple in the season opener, when Hackenberg was sacked 10 times. But Franklin said he has seen better results since, mainly from Wilkerson, who is finally recovered from the nagging back injury that cost him most of the last two seasons.
Still, there have been steady calls for Carter — who caught 54 passes for 675 yards and three scores and was named a freshman All-American during O’Brien’s tenure — to get more involved in the offense. And Franklin insists Gesicki, who has struggled in about every facet of the game during a tentative start and has been one of the offense’s most penalized players, has more to offer as a pass catcher.
“Once he catches the ball, he lets defenders know he’s willing to lower his shoulder and run over you at 250 pounds,” Franklin said. “He’s going to create opportunities to make guys miss and jump over people and those sorts of things. But for him, it’s going to start with the physical element.”