Itâ??s dicey for duo of Lions to play

Bill O'Brien won't truly know the status of two of his most productive players until the end of the week. Until then, the Penn State coach isn't about to give out too many details.

The Nittany Lions' chances at an upset Saturday at Nebraska could hinge on the availability of Jordan Hill and Kyle Carter. O'Brien said both Hill, his top defensive lineman, and Carter, his most athletic tight end, are day-to-day with their injuries.

They come in every day for treatment, O'Brien said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. Then we take a look at 'em in the training room, in the weight room, out on the field. And really that will be a later-in-the-week decision, whether they can play or not.

O'Brien confirmed that both players were able to do some things in practice on Monday but wouldn't elaborate further.

Hill suffered a sprained knee in the first half against Purdue last week and did not return. Carter injured his ankle at the end of the Ohio State game two weeks ago and did not make the trip to West Lafayette.

On its official injury report, Penn State listed both as day-to-day to match O'Brien's preferred term. In recent years, the program would use the equally vague label of possible for such players.

Both Hill and Carter remain listed as starters on Penn State's depth chart.

True freshman Jesse James stepped in for Carter at F-tight end against Purdue and scored a touchdown. At defensive tackle, fifth-year senior James Terry filled in for Hill for much of the second half last week.

I can tell you he's itching (to play) right now, senior linebacker Michael Mauti said of Hill. He's feeling good right now. … It's just up to him and the trainers and how he feels this week in practice.

Tailback Curtis Dukes, relegated mostly to special teams this season, has been ruled out with a head injury. O'Brien said he believed Dukes suffered a concussion on the opening kickoff last week while playing on the coverage team.

Zach Zwinak took advantage of his increased snaps against Purdue and rushed for a career-high 134 yards while Bill Belton stood on the sideline.

But O'Brien said the process for picking a starter for Saturday will remain the same, with performance in practice being the main factor. After the Purdue game, O'Brien said that was the reason that Belton appeared for just one play and did not touch the ball once.

There's no message being sent, O'Brien said Tuesday. That's just what we do. There's a reason why you practice. You practice to compete and get ready for games, and life is about competition. We try to compete every day and we try to be as fair as we can as coaches and tell the players … why they're playing, and other guys that they need to step it up and tell them why.

Those are conversations between myself and those players. But that's really what the deal with us always will be at Penn State. That we're going to practice hard and reward players that practice the right way.

For the first time since Belton returned from his early season ankle injury Penn State listed the starting tailback spot as being Zwinak or Belton for this week.

As Penn State prepares for the upcoming scholarship limits to hit the program because of NCAA sanctions, the Lions will look to attract more walk-ons – or run-ons as O'Brien now calls them – to the team.

Schools like Nebraska have been famed for having large and productive walk-on programs and O'Brien said Penn State will talk to the 'Huskers and others for advice after the season.

Not just Nebraska, I'm going to reach out to a few programs, O'Brien said. Personally I will reach out to some of those coaches or athletic directors and see how exactly they went about doing that. I already have done that (and will) continue to do that.