No matter how badly he slumped at times, how much his playing time dwindled and how acutely greater responsibilities burdened him last season, the passion to play football still smolders inside Terrence Phillips.

He wants to come back. He wishes he had that option, but now it appears he doesn't have a choice.

Phillips, who played wide receiver for the Nittany Lions, won't return for his senior season. In a recent telephone conversation with coach Joe Paterno, Phillips was told there would not be a scholarship made available to him for the 2005 season.

"I was told there was no more aid for me to come back," Phillips said. "I made it clear I wanted to come back, but [Paterno] said we ran out of aid."

In other words, all of the grants available under the 85-scholarship limit were occupied or soon to be given away to members of Penn State's incoming recruiting class.

Phillips first met with Paterno to discuss his future at the end of the fall semester. Paterno advised Phillips, telling him what he thought any man in his situation and with his responsibilities ought to do: walk away from football.

"He said, 'I think you have a lot on your shoulders,' " said Phillips, who became a father this summer, " 'and I think maybe you should think about moving on from football.' "

Phillips agreed with his coach -- at first. It wasn't long before word got out and several media outlets speculated that Phillips wouldn't return for his senior campaign, though no one confirmed the reports with the junior wide out.

And Phillips started to think he might have rushed to judgment. He asked former offensive coordinator and assistant athletic director for football administration Fran Ganter if there was any way he could still come back on scholarship. Ganter said he'd talk to Paterno.

In the meantime, the athletic department scheduled Phillips to be honored as a senior at the football team banquet in December. Phillips didn't attend the banquet.

"I'm not gonna show up at the banquet and be honored as a senior if that's not what I want to do," he said.

Phillips spent the next few weeks in limbo, waiting to hear if he would be joining the team in the fall. Then, the call from Paterno came.

"It seemed like he had in his mind what he thought was best for me," Phillips said.

That seems like the only thing still upsetting Phillips: no one asked him; they just assumed.

They assumed he couldn't juggle his responsibilities as a football player and father.

"The coaching staff thought it was too much for me without asking what I thought about it," he said. "I thought that was unfair to me that they assumed I couldn't do it."

Phillips added that Paterno plans to help him however he can with the next stage of his life.

"He definitely said he'll help me out finding a job," he said.

For Phillips, the call from Paterno ended an often-disappointing career, in which the Sharon native totaled only 17 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns in three seasons of action.

Phillips never quite lived up to the expectations following him out of Sharon High School, where he was an All-State selection along with Marlin Jackson, who went on to become an All-Big Ten defensive back at Michigan.

Phillips, though, characterized his time at Penn State as a positive experience, one that, of course, ended sooner than he would have liked.

"I wish the best of to my teammates and everyone that stuck with me," he said. "It's been a great experience."