Vince Cartaya reported to Camp Kenosha in August last year as a middle linebacker, the position he was recruited to play at Northwestern. Three days later the 235-pound Cartaya found himself mixing it up with behemoth defensive ends. Things remained that way for the next 10 days or so, until coach Randy Walker tried an experiment — partially as a strategy and mostly out of pure desperation.

In the last days of camp, Walker snatched Cartaya away from the defense and stuck him at fullback, a position the Wildcats sorely needed to fill. Having played halfback occasionally in high school, the switch to the white shirts was not a drastic one for Cartaya, who felt he could serve the team better by blocking in the backfield.

“I went ahead and switched because, honestly, I may be more defensively minded, but at defensive end, I didn’t really have a role that would help our team,” Cartaya said.

The Cartaya shuffle was a move Walker had anticipated as he entered the 2000 season. With tight ends John Cerasani, Jay Tant and Corbett Elsen graduating and starting fullback Mike Sherry out for the season with a back injury, two skill positions were left practically vacant.

The absence of experienced fullbacks and tight ends was a crucial factor in NU’s adoption of its four-wideout spread offense. In it, the Cats position two receivers on either side of the field with only one back flanking the quarterback. Tight ends and fullbacks rarely line up, with the attack featuring tailback Damien Anderson and spreading the ball to receivers.

“This year there were no returning tight ends or fullbacks in the program, they didn’t exist,” Walker said. “So when everyone says, ‘Why did you go to the spread offense?’ Duh, when you don’t have any fullbacks or tight ends, you have to put 11 on the field.”

“Right now we have a lot of two-year guys and we’re waiting for guys to develop into real Big Ten football players,” starting fullback Gilles Lezi said. “Then we can expect to use the I-formation and other formations more often.”

So the fullbacks and tight ends march on, pushing their limits in practice and savoring those few plays on Saturday.

In his new role, Cartaya embraces the key short-yardage situations that call for a fullback. For a guy who’s favorite thing is “running and hitting people,” Cartaya plays his heart out for those five or 10 plays per game, making the most of his opportunities.

“It’s kind of frustrating sometimes being in there only 15 percent of the time,” he said. “But when I’m in there, I’m going to do everything I can to help us win and now I do have a role where I can do that.”

Yet while they dream of wishbone formations and double tight-end sets, the “H and Y position group” has made only a few brief appearances on the gridiron this year.

Lezi only has three carries on the season, matching the totals of wide receivers Sam Simmons and Kunle Patrick. David Farman had his best game of the season Saturday against Michigan State, pulling in two catches for 26 yards.

Farman, an all-district quarterback in Texas, was yearning for his glory days when learning the specifics of the Cats’ new offense.

“I wished I were still playing quarterback,” said Farman of his first reaction. “But we’re different guys in the this position group than they had last year. There was a lot more experience in there with Tant, Cerasani, Corbett and (fullback) Ian Miller, so this offense works very well with what we have on this team.”

Like Cartaya, Farman expected to play his high school position at NU. But after redshirting his freshman year, Farman was dragged to tight end during the 1999 spring practice.

“I don’t know if there’s a bigger change you can have unless you move from offensive line to kicker or something like that,” Farman said. “There’s a lot more physical aspects to it compared with the mental aspect of quarterback — it was an interesting transition.”

As they try to master the new positions, Cartaya and Farman understand why they are used so sparingly. Big Ten football demands experience and the games require a flawlessness still being developed for NU’s fullbacks and tight ends.

While coaching at Miami (Ohio), Walker employed the no-huddle offense with two-back and tight end sets. As a former fullback, Walker looks forward to playing Lezi, Cartaya and Farman more often and hints that, with solid practice, it’s only a matter of time.

“Shoot, if Farman’s playing well and the team’s playing well, we will play more tight end offense,” Walker said. “If Gilles or Vince is playing well, we’ll play more two back.

“You get opportunities based on being productive and the more productive you are and the better practice player you are, the more trust we develop and then you get to play more.”