As the Penn State football team got ready on the sidelines and the Blue Band played the national anthem, a group of students did something other than get ready to watch the annual Blue-White game.

About 40 people stormed the Beaver Stadium field to protest the latest act of racism on campus which included a death threat to a black student leader and what they claim to be the lack of action by the university.

Twenty-six of the protesters were arrested and some had to be dragged off the field to a round of boos and jeers by the onlookers waiting for the intra-squad scrimmage to get underway.

Many Nittany Lion football players said they didn't understand what was happening, but redshirt junior Larry Johnson said he knew what was taking place.

With at least 10 black students receiving death threats, possibly including Penn State football players, Johnson said people should find out what is happening before jumping to conclusions.

"There are a lot of people who don't really know what's going on," Johnson said of the fans at the scrimmage. "Instead of just booing, they need to become educated on the issue."

Some players stood and watched the protest on the 50-yard line while others continued to throw the football to keep warm. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson, who is the father of Penn State players Larry and Tony Johnson, helped Dr. Terrell Jones, the vice provost of educational equity and police to remove the protesters from the field.

Penn State defensive end Michael Haynes thought it was a stunt to try and get the Nittany Lion faithful into the game, while defensive tackle Anthony Adams compared it to a rain delay.

Although the protest aimed at educating the Penn State community of the growing racial tension on campus and asking Penn State administration to provide a better setting for diversity, many football players, initially, didn't understand what was happening.

"I didn't know what was going on," Adams said.

"I thought it was a stunt or something like that. I was just sitting on the sidelines wondering why we weren't playing."

Penn State coach Joe Paterno said at his news conference before the Blue-White game that he doesn't know exactly how much his players have been targeted. He added that there have been one or two incidents he is sure of, including one last season when Rashard Casey was accused of beating up a police officer in Hoboken, N.J.

Paterno said he routinely meets with 12 of his players that are both black and white to discuss any problems that are circulating around the program and nothing dealing with hate mail or racist issues have come up.

"We didn't worry too much about it," Penn State quarterback Matt Senneca said. "We wanted to play, but they must have had a reason for what they were doing and they thought it was right."