Eddie is the latest addition to the Penn State men's volleyball team.

Eddie, however, hasn't been a welcomed newcomer. Eddie is the nickname of the "floating body" of cartilage that doctors tried to remove from senior setter Dan O'Dell's knee on Friday.

While on a recent California road trip, O'Dell injured the knee, but it wasn't until he and the team returned to Penn State that he realized the seriousness of the injury. The Rochester, N.Y., native will be sidelined for two to three weeks, with sophomore Luke Murray filling in.

On Friday, O'Dell underwent arthroscopic surgery and the doctors cleaned up the remaining cartilage in his knee, shaving parts of the patella tendon in order to even it out. O'Dell is expected to make a full recovery, but will undergo physical therapy to strength the tendons before making his return to the court.

"We were just playing [University of California] Irvine and I went to push off and I felt a small little pop," O'Dell said. "When we came back, I found the cartilage floating around in my knee cap."

But, in typical O'Dell fashion, he has managed to keep make light of the situation, with help from some of his teammates.

"[Senior co-captain Matt] Proper was making fun of me for having a body in my knee," O'Dell said. "He was joking around, telling me it was a little person, so I decided to give it a nickname."

And so Eddie was born. And Eddie might be here to stay -- in Friday's operation, the doctors couldn't find the mysterious body of cartilage, but still managed to "clean up a lot of junk in the knee area," O'Dell said.

"The first day [after the surgery] was pretty painful, but it's getting better every day," O'Dell said. "I've been doing therapy for two days a week since I got out of surgery. So we've been working hard to get the knee healthy."

O'Dell will be missed, not just for his ability on the court but for the intangibles he brings to the team.

"He's been in the practice gym every day of his career," Penn State men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "There's a stability with [someone who's been around for four years]. You know he knows what it's about. Those type of guys typically don't get rattled as much as maybe a first-year guy or a guy going through that for the first time, when he's counted upon to contribute.

"And I also think Dan is real good at having a sense of where everyone else is, the mood. And he has no problem with lightening it up a little bit."

On the court, the Nittany Lions will particularly miss his size. At 6-foot-7, O'Dell is unusually large for a setter and has used his height advantage to help the defensive aspect of the Lions' game. O'Dell is one of the best blocking setters in the country, Pavlik said, but isn't as good at consistently placing balls on the run as the 6-foot Murray.

"We lose seven inches," Pavlik said. "How does that come into play? We'll see."