STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -Removing his new pair of glasses, Joe Paterno couldn’t resist getting in a playful dig at the assembled reporters parsing his every word.
Offseason eye surgery has Penn State’s 83-year-old head coach seeing as clearly as ever this spring practice. In fact, he said he doesn’t really need glasses anymore, but his doctor wants him to wear them outside to protect his eyes.
“I can read my notes without any glasses, and it says here, ‘Keep your patience with these guys,”’ he said to reporters when asked how he was adjusting to the new specs with much thinner glasses than the Coke-bottle ones he was known for wearing.
Maybe he’ll also get a better look at the candidates vying to become the Nittany Lions’ new starting quarterback.
er.
Kevin Newsome could be the early leader to take over after spending his freshman season last year as the top backup. Third-stringer Matt McGloin may be in the mix, along with Paul Jones, a promising recruit who graduated from high school in December to enroll at Penn State this semester.
And that’s not even including top recruit Robert Bolden, who is expected to enroll over the summer.
The talent is there, but experience is sorely lacking – at least compared to the savvy Clark. That’s why the Nittany Lions will just spend the spring trying to get the new signal-callers acclimated to their new, possibly expanded, roles. There’s no timetable to naming a starter, Paterno said.
“We’re going into the season with the idea that we’ve got some really good prospects and we’ll see what happens from there, but there’s no agenda really,” he said.
As he typically does once each spring, Paterno threw open the doors to practice to reporters for the first 20 minutes, with the team mainly in position drills. There wasn’t much to see to analyze the quarterback candidates, though at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Jones has a frame similar to Clark’s.
But the likelihood of Jones or fellow freshman Bolden winning the job could be slim, judging by the way Paterno kept talking about the brutal road schedule that awaits this fall, which includes games at national champion Alabama, Ohio State and Iowa.
tough situation when you have a quarterback coming into” the road schedule this season, he said. “You’ve got to be very, very careful (about) what you expect from a kid that comes in.”
For a guy who has been head coach for four-plus decades, Paterno doesn’t mind change – at least in the springtime.
It’s a time when the Nittany Lions’ coach likes to experiment, moving players around to different positions. One of the more notable moves in camp is receiver Chad Powell, who caught 28 passes and three touchdowns last year, going across the line to play secondary.
Starting cornerback D’Anton Lynn will also get a look at safety. One of last year’s starters, Drew Astorino, is limited this spring after having left shoulder surgery in the offseason.
Paterno said he also plans to mix and match along the offensive line, where he must find starters at both tackle positions.
Then there’s linebacker, where last year’s standout trio of Sean Lee, Josh Hull and Navorro Bowman must be replaced.
Paterno mentioned Bani Gbadyu, Chris Colasanti and Nathan Stupar first when talking about possible replacements, though he’s not too worried about the position. There is plenty of depth and talent at linebacker, not including promising sophomore Michael Mauti, who missed 2009 because of a knee injury.
“That’s a position I don’t study as much because I think we’re in pretty good shape there,” Paterno said.
NOTES: Among team departures this offseason: Injury-plagued backup RB Brent Carter and little-used DL Tom McEowen. … Mauti and backup RB Brandon Beachum (knee) will be limited this spring. … Paterno pronounced special teams a top priority in drills after hiccups in the punting game last year.
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