PSU point/counterpoint: Did anything happen in the opener that surprised you?

Why weren’t Fleming, Carter more effective against WVU?

By Cory Giger

sports@altoonamirror.com

Penn State played an excellent game in its opening win at West Virginia, but there were two glaring surprises involving two of the biggest names on the team.

Transfer wide receiver Julian Fleming played much of the contest, and not only had zero catches, he wasn’t even targeted once.

On the other side of the ball, Abdul Carter had a mere one tackle, three penalties and was pretty much a non factor in his first start at defensive end. James Franklin will try to tell you otherwise, but it was far from a good performance from Carter, who some people believe could be a first-round draft pick.

OK, so what happened with both players?

It pretty much comes down to expectations — separating hype from reality.

Fleming came over from Ohio State as a big name and former big-time recruit. In the class of 2020, he was the No. 1 prospect in Pennsylvania and No. 3 in the nation.

But in four years with the Buckeyes, Fleming had a total of 79 catches. He caught 29 passes two years ago and 26 last year. He totaled 963 yards and seven TDs in four years.

Fleming was never more than a No. 3 receiver at Ohio State, which, granted, had a ton of talent at that position while he was there. Still, because of injuries and being lower on the depth chart, his career never equaled his lofty recruiting ranking.

Fleming can be a good player for Penn State. He also can be a great leader and mentor for the younger receivers, showing them how to go about their business. But to expect Fleming to all of a sudden put up huge receiving numbers is misguided.

Harrison Wallace III is PSU’s top wideout, and Omari Evans likely will be No. 2. Fleming will have some production and be a solid presence on the field as a blocker, but he probably won’t wow anybody with his final numbers.

Carter didn’t put up huge numbers last year at linebacker, finishing with only 48 tackles while starting all 13 games. He also had 5½ tackles for loss and 4½ sacks.

Carter had a good year, but not a great year. This season, he’s moving to defensive end, and it’s kind of baffled me just how many people expect him to become a superstar at the new spot.

There will be a learning curve. He’s now going up against big offensive tackles on every play, and there will be times when he’s not experienced enough at defensive end to be a game-changing kind of player.

Franklin noted Monday that Carter drew a lot of attention from WVU’s linemen, creating opportunities for other Penn State defenders to make plays. That was certainly true, but at the same time, Carter still just wasn’t in position on enough plays to make a big difference.

Again, Carter is a good player. He was a good linebacker. But not a great one, among the likes of Micah Parsons, Paul Posluszny, Sean Lee or NaVorro Bowman.

So, maybe we shouldn’t necessarily be putting so much hype on him until he proves himself at the new position.

Cory Giger is the host of “Sports Central” weekdays from 4-5 on 96.1 Hank FM.