Penn State

psu football

By Derek Levarse dlevarse@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
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STATE COLLEGE — The name seems to have stuck, for better or for worse.

When Jay Paterno first dubbed Penn State’s new offense as the “Spread HD” – as in high-def – he probably wasn’t envisioning his players to react to the moniker with a laugh or a roll of the eyes.

Hey, they’ll call it whatever he wants if it works.

Which begs the question – what exactly is it?

Most of the principal parties – Jay and competing quarterbacks Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin – played it a little coy on Friday afternoon at Penn State’s Holuba Hall practice facility, site of the sixth annual Lift for Life charity event.

Not that they were hinting at anything revolutionary.

“We had pretty much a spread offense last year, but with the talent me and Pat bring with being able to run the ball, we’re going to have some option with a couple of wrinkles,” Clark said. “Wideouts being in the backfield, things like that. Things we’re going to work out during camp.”

Clark mentioned tailbacks Evan Royster and Stephfon Green as well as senior receiver Derrick Williams as guys to expect to see in the backfield on a regular basis.

That sets things up for different types of reverses in the new playbook, as well as a healthy sized option package that largely disappeared with Anthony Morelli under center.

The easy assumption is that Clark would be the guy best fit at quarterback in such a system, but on the athleticism scale, Devlin is probably closer to 2005 starter Michael Robinson than he is to Morelli.

“I love the option,” Devlin said with a wide grin, adding that he ran a fair bit of it in high school at Downingtown East, where he became the state’s all-time career passing leader. “I like the decision-making. I like having that in my hands.”

Still, it might be an oversimplification to describe the 2008 offense as 2005 redux.

“We’re going to be a little bit more varied in the pass game than we were then,” Jay Paterno said. “Just some different plays, some different wrinkles.

“Everybody that’s going to be playing us, I know they all read about that we’ve got these quarterbacks that can run. So they’re going to go dig up some 2005 tape and start figuring out what we did back then. So, you know, we’re going to be careful that we’re not too predictable.”

Depends on your definition

Officially, the status of Penn State’s five suspended players hasn’t changed. Chris Baker, Navorro Bowman, Andrew Quarless, Phil Taylor and Knowledge Timmons are technically still not on the team.

But there’s nothing that forbids Baker, Bowman, Quarless and Timmons from working out with the team informally this summer before fall practice starts in August.

Only Taylor is restricted from that as well. Penn State’s Office of Judicial Affairs has barred the junior defensive tackle from campus and extracurricular activities until Aug. 15 – about a week into fall practice – while he awaits trial on his alleged role in an on-campus fight in October.

As it was, Bowman, Quarless and Timmons were all at Holuba Hall on Friday, with Bowman and Timmons competing and Quarless sitting it out with a sore back.

Bowman has had an especially rough time, as he is dealing with the recent death of his father.

Charitable numbers

The Lift for Life event pushed the amount raised by Penn State’s Uplifting Athletes program to approximately $75,000 in the past fiscal year, according to the athletic department. In its six-year existence, Lift for Life has now raised more than $300,000 for the Kidney Cancer Association.

The winning four-man team in the 11-event competition consisted of Clark, linebacker Josh Hull and tight ends Mickey Shuler and Greg Miskinis.

Faces in the crowd

Past, present and future Nittany Lions were all on hand for the rapidly growing event. Aside from the current players, alums such as Matt Rice, Tim Shaw, Jay Alford and Terrell Golden, among others, showed up early on.

There were a few recruits taking in the action, notably Nate Cadogan – defensive end and brother of starting left tackle Gerald Cadogan. The younger brother gave a verbal commitment to the Lions at the start of the day.

West Scranton lineman and fellow PSU verbal Eric Shrive also stopped by, and a considerable crowd followed around Justin Brown – a heralded receiver on a visit to the school from Delaware.