In 1989 Penn State recruited one of the most highly touted high school tight ends in the country, but 1990 saw that prospect on the sidelines, redshirted after a preseason ankle injury.
Saturday afternoon, however, in an 81-0 whitewash of Cincinnati, Kyle Brady was between the sidelines at Beaver Stadium -- not on them --taking a step, a big step, towards fulfilling the expectations laid upon him.
"I was happy with the time I got," Brady, a 6-foot-6-inch, 255-pound redshirt freshman, said. "I felt I made quality time -- getting in and playing a lot of football really helped my confidence."
And Brady's performance had to help Coach Joe Paterno's confidence, with starter Al Golden fighting a knee injury which kept him out of Saturday's game. While Brady might not be ready to start every game, his performance against Cincinnati proved he has the ability to eventually man the tight end position.
"Brady keeps making catches like that and Al might be on the bench," Paterno said lightheartedly.
But seriously, coach.
"I've been high on Brady. He comes from an athletic family and he's got good athletic instincts -- I've said Brady could be a really good player."
In the 81-point flogging against the outmatched, outmanned Bearcats, Brady hauled in three passes for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns, his first receptions as a Lion.
"The first (TD) was a QB rollout to the short side and I just dragged across the middle and was wide open," said Brady. "The second one was kind of a broken play -- I actually really messed up on that. I'm supposed to get across the middle right away but I was held up for a couple of seconds.
"I finally got across the middle and Tony (Sacca) was looking for me, so I just stopped and the guy kept running, and it worked out."
In the game, Penn State quarterbacks Tony Sacca and Matt Nardolillo spread the wealth, completing passes to eight different receivers for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Those numbers contrasted greatly with those from the Kickoff Classic, where Sacca threw for 206 yards, but completed passes to only three receivers -- wideouts O.J. McDuffie, Terry Smith and tailback Richie Anderson. Brady said, however, that the tight ends have been in the playbook from the outset.
"We had a lot of offense in for the tight ends all preseason, but it just didn't work out that way in the Georgia Tech game," Brady said. "But this time Tony was looking for us a couple of times when his deep receivers were covered -- he comes underneath to us next, so it worked out."
McDuffie, who led all receivers with four catches for 55 yards, said the Lions wanted to work the tight ends in against the Bearcats after they were kept quiet against the Yellow Jackets.
"We worked on hitting the tight ends because (Cincinnati) has good cornerbacks so they might take a little bit of us (wideouts) away," McDuffie said, "but we didn't think they could handle our tight ends."
"Different things happen different weeks with different teams," Sacca said, "and it just so happened that a couple of plays worked out where (Brady) was open."
Although Brady is seeing his first real action of his collegiate career, he said his redshirt year helped him to prepare for the game.
"Last year, I played against the best defense in the country -- the one you're seeing right now, when I was on the scout team," Brady said. "I had a couple of experiences where I had to run into those guys and (Cincinnati) didn't quite match up with our defensive backs."
Notes: Wide receiver Tisen Thomas is lost for the season after his knee gave out last week during practice while running a pass pattern. . . . No. 1 tight end Golden, who sat out Saturday's game against Cincinnati with a sprained knee, should be ready to play against USC Saturday night. . . . Nose guard Jim Deter is also expected to return to action this week after sitting out Saturday with a knee injury.
