Josh Hull

Josh Hull never has lacked confidence, as illustrated by his decision to enroll at Penn State and walk on as a linebacker at a university noted for finding the best linebackers in the country. When Hull, then just 205 pounds, informed coaches at the lower-classification schools that were recruiting him of his choice, a number were flabbergasted. "Some coaches thought he was overreaching," said Martin Tobias, Hull's coach at Penns Valley High School, 25 miles from State College.

Finding replacements at quarterback and the three linebacker positions was the challenge facing Penn State coach Joe Paterno as the Nittany Lions began spring practice yesterday. The Lions return 13 starters - seven on offense, five on defense, and kicker Collin Wagner - from a squad that went 11-2 last season, won the Capital One Bowl against Louisiana State, and was ranked No. 9 in the final Associated Press poll. With two-year starting quarterback Daryll Clark gone, the Lions will look at three quarterbacks during the 15 days of drills leading up to the Blue-White Game on April 24. Paterno insists there is no front-runner at the quarterback position.

STATE COLLEGE - Members of the Penn State defense understandably exude a lot of confidence. The unit has been solid all season and posted its best effort Saturday in a 20-0 victory over Minnesota. "This game really was a game where from the start, we were going to dominate this team," linebacker Navorro Bowman said. "That's the type of attitude we came out here with. We weren't going to let this team get anything. We weren't going to give them anything. The outcome is what we expected.

Graduation has put some huge holes in the Penn State defense, which was ranked No. 2 in total defense in the Big Ten and No. 9 in the country last season. Six starters are leaving, including three expected to be high choices in the NFL draft: defensive tackle Jared Odrick and linebackers Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman. (Bowman, a junior last season, gave up his final year of eligibility.) The other departing starters are linebacker Josh Hull, defensive end Jerome Hayes, and cornerback A.J. Wallace.

Michael Mauti is this season's Linebacker U., as in up. Unfortunately for Penn State this spring, there's a Linebacker D., as in down. Navorro Bowman did not play in yesterday's Blue-White scrimmage, and his status with the team remained unclear after the junior linebacker was sentenced to an additional 12 months of probation Wednesday. Bowman admitted to a probation officer that he had smoked marijuana once, a violation of his initial probation. Last May, the 20-year-old pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

Navorro Bowman spent much of the week of the Capital One Bowl wearing his poker face, declining to commit one way or the other whenever he was asked if he planned to give up his final season of eligibility at Penn State to enter the NFL draft. But in essence for the Nittany Lions' junior outside linebacker, the decision was a slam dunk. He fulfilled his mother's wishes by earning a degree in crime, law and justice. At least one Web site, ESPN.com's Scouts Inc., predicted that he would be drafted in the middle of the first round.

There have been many reasons over many seasons to look past Temple. Never before has Penn State looked so eagerly to the start of its Big Ten Conference slate. That's not to say coach Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions are taking Temple lightly. As odd as it may sound, the 1-2 Owls - who will travel to State College for a noon kickoff Saturday - likely will present Penn State with its stiffest nonconference test of the season. "This will be the best team we've played so far this year," Paterno said yesterday during his weekly teleconference.

Could there be a season that Joe Paterno wanted to start any more than this one, his 43d as head coach at Penn State? A turbulent off-season ended with one more headache when defensive tackles Chris Baker and Phil Taylor were given the heave-ho last week. No reason was given for their dismissal, but it was just the latest off-the-field matter to garner headlines. Since the conclusion of the 2007 season - a not-so-memorable 9-4 campaign - the reputation of the Nittany Lions has been marred by more brushes with the law, suspensions, expulsions, and an ESPN Outside the Lines report that painted the program as a renegade and Paterno as out of touch.

It was d?j? vu, but not all over again. For 1 1/2 quarters, Penn State played like it was still spooked by Michigan and there was reason to think the 24-point-underdog Wolverines would ride the Nittany Lions' errant ways to an upset. But this isn't your usual Penn State team - the one that had lost to Michigan nine straight times. And, perhaps more important, these aren't your customary Wolverines, the ones that seemed to pounce on every Lions mistake over 12 tortured years.

It might be insulting for Penn State's previous 2009 opponents to hear the Nittany Lions' first three games referred to as the exhibition season. But after the Lions' three victories, by an aggregate score of 90-20, no one knows if they are overrated or deserving of their No. 5 ranking. Tonight, observers of Joe Paterno and his team - fans and detractors alike - finally get a clue. Iowa enters Beaver Stadium in the Big Ten opener to provide the Lions with their first true test of the year.

Joe Paterno had gone three months without speaking to the media because of a stubborn illness, so the questions to Penn State's 83-year-old head coach came quickly at the Big Ten football media day earlier this week. How do you feel? What do you think of the conference adding Nebraska as a member? What's your thought on reaching 400 career wins? How long do you want to continue to coach? Will you have a say as to your successor? Or as the anchor of the Big Ten Network's four-plus hours of coverage lamented following Paterno's news conference, "There wasn't one question asking him about his football team.

Graduation has put some huge holes in the Penn State defense, which was ranked No. 2 in total defense in the Big Ten and No. 9 in the country last season. Six starters are leaving, including three expected to be high choices in the NFL draft: defensive tackle Jared Odrick and linebackers Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman. (Bowman, a junior last season, gave up his final year of eligibility.) The other departing starters are linebacker Josh Hull, defensive end Jerome Hayes, and cornerback A.J. Wallace.

Finding replacements at quarterback and the three linebacker positions was the challenge facing Penn State coach Joe Paterno as the Nittany Lions began spring practice yesterday. The Lions return 13 starters - seven on offense, five on defense, and kicker Collin Wagner - from a squad that went 11-2 last season, won the Capital One Bowl against Louisiana State, and was ranked No. 9 in the final Associated Press poll. With two-year starting quarterback Daryll Clark gone, the Lions will look at three quarterbacks during the 15 days of drills leading up to the Blue-White Game on April 24. Paterno insists there is no front-runner at the quarterback position.

Navorro Bowman spent much of the week of the Capital One Bowl wearing his poker face, declining to commit one way or the other whenever he was asked if he planned to give up his final season of eligibility at Penn State to enter the NFL draft. But in essence for the Nittany Lions' junior outside linebacker, the decision was a slam dunk. He fulfilled his mother's wishes by earning a degree in crime, law and justice. At least one Web site, ESPN.com's Scouts Inc., predicted that he would be drafted in the middle of the first round.

The thick glasses on Joe Paterno's rather prominent nose might be tinted, but they apparently don't distort his view of reality in terms of his football team. Another Senior Day at Beaver Stadium is fast approaching, and Saturday's final home game (against Indiana) for Penn State's departing veterans will again prove to be a time for hugs, tears and misty, water-colored memories of the way they were . . . or at least the way they'd like to think they were. "It's going to mean a lot to me," tight end Andrew Quarless said of the last time he and his fellow seniors will run out of the tunnel for an afternoon of football before the standard adoring turnout of 105,000-plus.

If you're a football fan who loves offense, find something else to do at 3:30 p.m. Saturday rather than watch 11th-ranked Penn State test Ohio State, ranked 15th. The Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes are 1-2 in the Big Ten Conference in the four major defensive categories (rushing, passing, total defense, and fewest points allowed). They are in the top 10 nationally in three of those classifications, and in the top 15 in pass defense. The numbers point to a low-scoring, slug-'em-out battle at Beaver Stadium similar to the Lions' 13-6 victory last season, when the first turnover of the game, an Ohio State fumble recovered by linebacker Navorro Bowman in the fourth quarter, set up a touchdown drive that gave Penn State the lead for good.

STATE COLLEGE - Members of the Penn State defense understandably exude a lot of confidence. The unit has been solid all season and posted its best effort Saturday in a 20-0 victory over Minnesota. "This game really was a game where from the start, we were going to dominate this team," linebacker Navorro Bowman said. "That's the type of attitude we came out here with. We weren't going to let this team get anything. We weren't going to give them anything. The outcome is what we expected.

TRY TO IMAGINE you've just seen "Titanic," 1993's Academy Award-winning film about the doomed luxury vessel. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet still head the cast, but they are never in any scenes together, thus no romantic sparks fly. Changes the tenor of the entire movie, doesn't it? Maybe the box office still yields a hefty return, or maybe the expensive production sinks like ... well, you get the idea. Now consider the curious case of Penn State outside linebackers Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman, leading men for a nationally ranked defense who have provided only a fleeting glimpse of what could be. Because of injuries incurred by both players, who entered the season as strong All-America candidates, Lee, a fifth-year senior, and Bowman, a fourth-year junior, have started only one game together.

Josh Hull never has lacked confidence, as illustrated by his decision to enroll at Penn State and walk on as a linebacker at a university noted for finding the best linebackers in the country. When Hull, then just 205 pounds, informed coaches at the lower-classification schools that were recruiting him of his choice, a number were flabbergasted. "Some coaches thought he was overreaching," said Martin Tobias, Hull's coach at Penns Valley High School, 25 miles from State College.

It might be insulting for Penn State's previous 2009 opponents to hear the Nittany Lions' first three games referred to as the exhibition season. But after the Lions' three victories, by an aggregate score of 90-20, no one knows if they are overrated or deserving of their No. 5 ranking. Tonight, observers of Joe Paterno and his team - fans and detractors alike - finally get a clue. Iowa enters Beaver Stadium in the Big Ten opener to provide the Lions with their first true test of the year.