Evan Royster and his father, Ted, like to talk back and forth through text messages.

Sometimes it takes Evan, Penn State's redshirt freshman running back, a while to respond, his father says.

Yesterday at 9:30 a.m., Ted wanted to know how his son was feeling after suffering an ankle injury in Penn State's game against Temple. So he sent Evan a text message.

This time, Evan responded almost immediately, and the message was clear.

"He says he's ready to play on Saturday," Ted Royster said by phone last night.

Royster's teammates and coaches agree, saying the running back has been recovering quickly from his ankle injury and looks like he'll be ready to go against Michigan State.

"He did have some contact [in practice]," offensive lineman Mike Lucian said yesterday. "He was definitely in there to run the ball and hitting people."

Royster was sidelined early in the second quarter of last weekend's game after spraining his right ankle. But the injury is not as severe as team officials initially thought after Saturday's game, Joe Paterno said on Tuesday.

Rodney Kinlaw, Penn State's No. 1 running back, has to be pretty encouraged when he sees Royster practicing this week. The two running backs have shared the majority of Penn State's carries during the six games since Austin Scott was kicked off the team last month.

By sharing the carries, both running backs have stayed fresh into the fourth quarter of those games.

But when Royster was sidelined against Temple, Kinlaw was forced to carry the ball 27 times. It was only the second time in his career Kinlaw surpassed the 25-carry mark, the first time coming earlier this season against Iowa.

"I think Royster will be ready this week," Kinlaw said. "He's looked pretty good in practice this week."

Royster is listed as Penn State's No. 2 running back -- behind Kinlaw -- on a team depth chart released Monday by the athletic department.

Behind Kinlaw and Royster on that depth chart, the Lions have a few other players capable of making some carries. The man that's listed at No. 3 on the depth chart has drawn some interest in recent weeks.

When the season began, Brent Carter, a redshirt freshman, was only a fourth-stringer on offense, Paterno said.

The coach still thought Carter was a good athlete, so he moved him to safety.

But Paterno became worried about the running game's depth when senior fullback Matt Hahn went down with a season-ending injury against Indiana.

Carter, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior in high school, moved back to running back from defense.

"I think Carter could go in there and be all right now," Paterno said. "He's had a couple of weeks of practice."