Adam Taliaferro made his most important run out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel Saturday night before the Penn State-Miami football game.

And although he wasn't wearing his Nittany Lions helmet or shoulder pads underneath his No. 43 jersey, Taliaferro was wearing something much more important.

A smile from ear to ear.

The scene was set in spectacular fashion in the dusk of the newly renovated Beaver Stadium. On the scoreboards in the North and South end zones, 109,313 fans were treated to a video depicting the obstacles Taliaferro went through to walk again.

The fans were shown his progression from first moving his leg in the hospital to lifting weights and then finally walking out of Magee Hospital in Philadelphia with the help of crutches.

At the end of the video presentation, Taliaferro emerged from the South end zone tunnel to a standing ovation from Penn State and Miami faithful. Taliaferro was smiling, flexing his muscles and running through the dozens of photographers who wanted to capture the inspirational moment for millions of well-wishers all over the world.

"I'll always remember it for the rest of my life," Taliaferro said. "Being back was kind of like a dream come true from being where I was before to now."

Less then a year ago, Taliaferro made a tackle late in the game against Ohio State on Buckeyes fullback Jerry Westbrooks.

The Penn State cornerback lay motionless on the field. His spinal cord was severely injured and his recovery — if there was to be one — was going to be a long, arduous process.

But because of the immediate medical attention given to Taliaferro by the Ohio State medical staff and his proper treatment from doctors, nurses and specialists, he can walk again.

Taliaferro didn't recover instantaneously from his injury. The progression from no movement to walking took months of treatment, hard work and dedication by Taliaferro, his family and the medical staffs helping him along the way.

But by late April, the comeback kid was writing, weightlifting, driving and swimming. He came back to Penn State this summer to take classes and has helped with the Lions secondary this preseason with Lions coaches Tom Bradley and Brian Norwood.

Although Taliaferro will never play football again, his story is not one of failure, but of determination and success. That was proven Saturday night as thousands cheered his name and applauded his heroic efforts.

Some of his teammates were even speechless.

"I can't really describe it and put it into words," quarterback Zack Mills said. "The steps and the process that he's been through, all the hard work that he's put in, just to see him walk out like that with a big smile on his face is just amazing."

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who was continually by Taliaferro's side throughout his painstaking recovery, said it was a difficult decision for him. He didn't want to take anything away from Taliaferro, but he also wanted to keep the focus on the football game.

But Paterno did a fine job allotting time to the Miami and Penn State football teams, and especially did an outstanding job with the star of Saturday night, Adam Taliaferro.

"Miami has a great football team, we thought it was going to be a great game and yet you didn't want to take anything away from Adam," Paterno said. "It sounded like it was great."