Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has never been one to push his players for awards. However, he's made it clear that there is someone he wouldn't mind seeing at the Yale Club in December.

Tailback Larry Johnson, who broke Penn State's single-season all-purpose yardage record last week and needs just 158 rushing yards to break the single-season rushing yardage record, has started to stir up some Heisman Trophy consideration.

Though Paterno says he doesn't concern himself with individual accolades, he said that Johnson deserves whatever attention he gets.

"I'm not a guy that pushes kids into certain things, I think they play themselves into awards," Paterno said. "But if you're talking about giving the Heisman Trophy to a running back, when you're talking about the No. 1 running back in the country, it's tough for me to believe that anyone has had a better year or has more talent than Larry Johnson."

Paterno has seen his share of great running backs, including 1973 Heisman Trophy winner John Cappeletti, and five other backs who finished in the top 10 in the balloting.

Paterno said that Johnson is in their league. He compared Johnson's running style to Ki-Jana Carter, the second-place Heisman finisher in 1994, and said that only a few backs he's coached, including former tailback Blair Thomas, were capable of producing in as many different ways as Johnson does.

Though none of those had tremendous pro careers, all five went in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Paterno expects Johnson to follow them.

"I'm not a pro coach, I'm not sure what's going to happen, and I'm not one of those guys that goes around and tries to figure out where he's going to go," he said. "But he's a big strong back, he can run ... I'd be surprised if he's not a No.1 draft pick. But I don't know."

Nice to have options

Paterno said he is still unsure as to whether middle linebacker Gino Capone would be able to play against Indiana on Saturday. Last week, he sat out with a stinger in his back against Virginia.

But the play of fill-ins Andy Ryland and T.C. Cosby gave Paterno confidence that the Nittany Lions defense will survive without him. Both played solid and managed to serve as play-callers for the defense on a day when the Lions were forced to make a lot of adjustments for the Virginia offense.

Paterno has another player he can use to fill in for Capone if he doesn't come back. Linebacker Tim Johnson has missed a lot of practice this season with a back problem, but Paterno said he would likely be seeing more time soon.

"When Virginia spread us out all over with no backs and everything else, a lot of calls had to be made, and that's not the type of game Tim Johnson is ready for," Paterno said. "I think one of these days, Tim Johnson's going to be a good football linebacker."

Trying to keep his nose clean

Paterno tried to stay out of trouble by avoiding another rant on officials yesterday, and when a question was asked about the referee doll that was found hanging on his door Sunday, he made sure he avoided that too.

"No comment," he said. "Let's not even get into that."

Paterno later basically denied knowing anything about the doll.

"I don't know if I even have a door knocker," he said. "I never use the front door. I use the garage. I got one of those things where you press the button and the garage door goes up."