Pass Happy Valley

The only thing more surprising than Joe Paterno leading the Nittany Lions to the BCS? The four freshman wideouts he's using to do it

Joe Paterno stands alone at a microphone in the dimly lit building that should one day bear his name. It's the night before Penn State's season opener, and the 30,000 fans in Beaver Stadium are on their feet. Paterno's proclamation of a new era of Nittany Lions football has them cheering louder than they should after the brutal five-year stretch they've just endured.

Of course, you'd expect the man who's coached for the school since 1950, with two national titles and five undefeated seasons, to know how to work this crowd. His words carve a line between the prolonged 26—33 slump of 2000-2004 and this season's newfound confidence. Then, to illustrate the difference between past and present, the 78-year-old coach steps away from the mike and, like a vaudeville comedian, breaks into a routine: a stiff-legged waddle followed by a loose-limbed swagger.

As he does this, Paterno looks over at his players, who are sitting at field level. Most are smiling, but four rookies are positively giddy. They've seen him do this at almost every practice, but with adult commentary. "You can play like this," is how a lock-kneed Paterno typically describes his waddle. Then, after breaking into a strut: "Or you can play with balls." Here, before the faithful, Paterno keeps it clean. But the crowd gets the message. Forget what you've heard about dinosaurs. This old coach is ready to loosen up and-more shockinghe's ready to hang his program's hopes on a bunch of giggling freshmen.

THERE WAS good reason Paterno's pitch that night was so well received. Even casual PSU observers had heard the buzz about Paterno's most hyped recruits ever, wideout Derrick Williams and wide receiver/cornerback Justin King. But nobody in the stands that night could have suspected that those other two freshmen Paterno had in hysterics, receivers Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood, would also put a wiggle in Paterno's step and more waggle than ever in his offense. "You want to horse around with us now, then we're gonna hurt you," Paterno says. "Their speed has changed our whole personality."

Their coach's personality, too. Football is fun again for Paterno, which is no small achievement. During the worst slump of his coaching career, Paterno suffered personal losses that would make most folks reconsider how they spend their days. He lost his younger brother, George, during the first half of the skid. Then his mentor, former PSU defensive coordinator Jim O'Hora, died this summer. And throughout these hardships, a vocal minority of alums and media raised the pitch on their calls for him to step aside. Paterno understands those cries for his head; he's the first to admit that the past few years have been hard to watch. "You could see how much it bothered our fans," he says. "We just didn't play very good football."

And so for all these reasons, Paterno vowed that this year would be different-that his fans and players would enjoy the ride. Even after his Lions crushed three nonconference foes to start the season, Paterno continued to hammer home the point. Before PSU's game against Northwestern, he called a special meeting, where the Brown literature major lectured on the origins of the Olympics. He told his 100 student-athletes how the Games were founded as a pure celebration of athletics, and how he wanted them to honor that. "Every week, you get to throw a party for 100,000 people," he said. "Go have some fun."

The players, who had expected to be told not to lose focus despite their early-season success, were shocked. But the only thing more surprising than JoePa telling his boys to live it up after three impressive wins is JoePa relying on four freshmen to get those W's. Being a rookie at Penn State hasn't always been a joyride. Paterno, virtually alone among D1 coaches, still thinks the NCAA should prohibit freshmen from playing, and he's made even the most gifted youngsters-LaVar Arrington comes to mind-bide their time. But he's never been as impressed with freshmen as he is with these four, nor as open to challenging his own rules as he has been this season. "They're poised, they're very mature and they go to class," Paterno says. "They're exactly what we're looking for. They shut their mouths and do their jobs."

And they're doing them in Paterno's most open offense ever. Sixteen Lions have caught at least one pass so far this season, and Williams-the top offensive recruit in the country last year as a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md.-has lined up at wideout, tailback, QB and kick returner. Butler, a walk-on from Woodbridge, Va., whose only scholarship offer was from William & Mary, is averaging 18 yards on 20 catches after spending last season as a scout-team D-back. King, whose stepfather is former PSU wide receiver Terry Smith, has gained 124 yards on seven reverses and has averaged 23 yards on four catches. And Norwood, whose dad, Brian, coaches Penn State's D-backs, led all Lions with five grabs in Penn State's wins over Northwestern and Ohio State. The four flankers have caught 55 passes for 836 yards and 7 TDs.

These are just the sort of results that Paterno promised when he recruited them, but promises alone didn't bring the foursome to Happy Valley. It was also Paterno himself, especially his sense of humor and the way he handles the 60-year gap between himself and his players. Opposing recruiters try to use his age against him, but he makes it part of his charm. When Butler's dad made a crack about Paterno's infamous postgame chasing of a ref three years ago, the coach laughed and said, "Hey, at least I can still run." And when a reporter once asked if he ever downloaded music, the coach who thinks e-mail requires a stamp replied: "What the hell do I know about downloading music? I can't download a jar of peanut butter."

So when Paterno sat down in Williams' living room a year ago, the last question the family expected was one of the first out of his mouth. "What kind of music do you listen to?" Paterno asked. "Do you like Puff Daddy?" Yes, the coach was two appellations behind, but his obvious interest in Williams (Paterno had sent a three-page handwritten letter) got the kid to thinking. So did a totally revamped playbook. Out were those conservative power-I and pro sets, in were fourreceiver sets, empty backfields, throwing on first down and more reverses than an appellate court.

And then there was that bug in Williams' ear. He'd met King in 2002 at a Penn State football camp. The grind of the recruiting process brought the two kids close, and soon they were calling each other to compare notes. Both wanted to go to a program that needed them, a school where they would make a difference. So when King announced he would become a Nittany Lion, Williams followed. "I was looking for four things," Williams says. "Honesty, loyalty, trustworthiness and a man of character. Joe Paterno has all that."

Both King and Williams enrolled in January, bunking together in the same dorm room. They soon met two other freshman roomies, Butler and Norwood, and the PlayStation battles began. But not just for bragging rights: to help the four kids learn the team's new offense, coaches had a grad assistant load the entire Penn State playbook onto a Madden 2005 memory card.

There was good reason to cater to the four. After languishing on scout-team defense, Butler stunned the staff by earning his reps on offense. "They kept telling me he was the best receiver on our roster," Paterno says. That wasn't saying much. Penn State passed for just 10 touchdowns last year, second-worst in the Big Ten. This year's starting QB, senior Michael Robinson, was the team's leading receiver in 2004 with 485 yards. Still, Paterno says, when his coaches lobbied for Butler, "I thought, you gotta be kidding me." But as JoePa took more notice of the 5'10'', 163-pound Butler in practice, he realized his assistants were right. Paterno opted not to burn Butler's redshirt halfway through the season, but saw a catalyst for revamping his ailing receiving unit.

Building block No. 2 was Norwood, a townie who graduated from State College Area High in June 2004 but was asked to defer his enrollment until this January. When you're a 150-pound wideout who caught only 21 passes in your senior year and received just one other scholarship offer (also William & Mary), waiting a semester doesn't seem so bad. Norwood's dad never suggested that his boss look at Jordan. But after seeing the kid play point guard for the state champs, Paterno extended an offer. Ever the needler, JoePa couldn't resist taking a shot at his employee, telling Brian: "I'm glad he got his mother's athletic ability."

Mind you, Paterno gets as good as he gives. On the practice field one day in late September, King and Butler nervously glanced around to make sure Paterno wasn't nearby, then launched into dead-on impersonations of their leader.

"Aw, nuts!" King screeched, hitting Paterno's nasal high C.

"Get 'im outta here!" Butler fired back, mimicking the practice-field squeal Paterno uses to give somebody the boot. Nearby, Williams doubled over in laughter. "That's him," he said, "that's him."

What the players don't know is that Paterno has heard their impressions of him and is impressed. "Sometimes I turn around because I think it's me yelling at me," he says, laughing.

Not that the old man has gone soft. Before the first spring practice with contact, Paterno made a point of showing how ornery he could be, kicking players off the field for uniform violations. And he put the passing game under hothouse scrutiny, charting every pass thrown, even in seven-onseven drills. He was blown away by the data, not only by how the four freshmen caught the ball against his first-team D but also how they racked up yards after the catch. So when 42,000 showed up in a thunderstorm for the spring game, they were amazed to see the Lions open the game in a four-wide set with Robinson in the shotgun. And on that first play King slipped behind the defense for a 35-yard catch down the middle. The opening set, Paterno says, was chosen for a specific purpose. It was the first stanza of the message he would deliver four months later at the pep rally:

A new era of Penn State football had arrived.

IT'S LATE September, and the Lions are ending a practice with kickoff drills. King lines up deep before bursting upfield to block. It's supposed to be a minimum contact drill, but scout-team linebacker Dorian Burton didn't get the memo. He crushes King, who lands awkwardly. Barking coaches run on the field and practice is called.

A few minutes later Butler, Williams and King are peeling off their pads when offensive line coach Bill Kenney rushes over. "If he hits you again like that, I'm gonna kill him," Kenney says. King insists he is fine, but Kenney blusters on. "I don't give a damn! If he can run like you on Saturdays, then he's allowed to hit you like that! But I got news for you. God can't run that fast! And that goes for all three of you!"

Paterno, on the other hand, knows at least one guy who can match up with his fab freshmen. Not a practice goes by that he fails to remind his receivers that he still holds a share of Brown's record of 14 career picks. "I could've covered any of you," he says, before inserting himself into a drill to show how to chuck a bump-and-run corner. It's not the only time the septuagenarian mixes it up with his squad.

The highlight of every game week is the final drill of the last practice, when the hands team fields onside kicks. On the last attempt, a new kicker regularly replaces true freshman starter Kevin Kelly-true senior Joe Paterno.

The team gathers as the old man digs in, wearing his standard khaki pants, black Nikes and blue Penn State football shirt. It takes him forever to gear up, but as soon as he signals the other 10 guys to take off, Paterno sprints to the tee and slams the top of the ball. The sideline goes nuts as a hard spinner bounces off an unlucky special-teamer in the front line. "Test him for steroids!" one of the wideouts yells. Paterno just chuckles, then brings the team in for the last huddle before game day.

It's time to celebrate.

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