If there’s one thing Illinois head coach Bret Bielema respects, it’s the way Penn State uses tight end. Tyler Warren. Bielema has seen first-hand how versatile and valuable Warren is to Penn State’s offense under offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
“Like No. 44, I love him,” Bielema said during his postgame press conference Saturday night when referring to Warren when discussing how Penn State uses some of its players in multiple ways. Warren played a key role in helping Penn State win a Victory 21-7 against Bielema’s Illini.
Penn State had Warren catch the football (four catches for 34 yards) and run the football with a run-pass option package (13 yards and 1 touchdown) while taking snaps in the quarterback position. As a former quarterback, Warren seemed comfortable handling these tasks
“One of the things I took away from the league is that a guy has a lot of positional flexibility, meaning he can do multiple things in addition to what he’s engaged in,” Bielema said.
Bielema spent three seasons in the NFL after serving as head coach at Arkansas. So he’s gained a bit more insight into players at the next level during his years as head coach at Wisconsin, Arkansas and now Illinois. As far as Bielema is concerned, the NFL hype for Warren is legitimate.
“I just think his skill set allows a lot of other things to happen.”
Warren and Penn State will host UCLA next weekend for another Big Ten game. Kickoff is set for noon Eastern Time. start time and Fox to present its pre-game show to Happy Valley for the game.
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