Offensive line appreciates

There are still people out there who appreciate it when Larry Johnson charges ahead for just a couple of yards.

"It's a shame that most people are expecting him to break one [a long run] every time he touches the ball," Penn State fullback Sean McHugh said. "They don't realize how hard it is to go four or five yards in college football."

Nobody knows it as well as McHugh, fellow fullback Paul Jefferson and the offensive line.

Those guys have been taking on seven, eight or nine blockers all season.

"We know that if he can get by us, there's not much else out there," guard Tyler Lenda said. "If they're going to stack guys, they don't have much protection deep."

In the past six games, teams have stacked guys and Johnson has been able to break long runs because his line and fullbacks open him a hole.

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, when trying to justify not playing Larry Johnson until this year, often tells of how impatient Johnson was.

"I used to tell him to wait, wait, wait," Paterno said. "The hole will open up here."

But Johnson was too eager to get up field and often cost himself yards.

Until this year.

"He's become so good at finding any little hole," Lenda said. "You make any gap and he's going to get to it. That gives you a lot of confidence as a blocker."

It's McHugh and Jefferson who have the duty of taking on big linebackers who are responsible for filling gaps. How many times has Johnson juked or railed a poor safety? Think he'd do the same to the middle linebacker?

Earlier in the year, Indiana coach Gerry DiNardo said Penn State's two fullbacks were the best he would see all year.

Both would likely shirk that notion.

"He's gotten really good at making us look good," McHugh said. "Lots of guys are strong and lots of guys are fast. But there's nobody like him."

Jefferson says he saw Johnson's success coming.

"I told him over the summer 'This is your year, you're the man,' " he said. "It's something he deserves because he's put the work in for it."

Johnson's blockers share this sentiment: they can't believe this is happening.

They wanted to get Johnson 1,000 yards. That he doubled that number because of good blocking hasn't registered yet.

The Spartans sometimes stacked 10 men in the box on Saturday.

"I didn't know there were ten guys on the line of scrimmage," Schmitt said. "That's pretty good."

Schmitt also said he feels the team is in a zone and could beat anyone in the country.

And while most of them are pushing their back for the Heisman, they still see Johnson as, well, the guy they've always known.

"You try to put it in perspective," said Jefferson, "but right now, he's just another guy. You've been playing with him for four years. But then you think [he's] a 2,000- yard rusher, holding all kinds of records at Penn State, a Heisman Trophy candidate with good possibility of winning it, and it's an honor."

The linemen are planning a trip to New York if Johnson is invited to the ceremony, which will be at the Yale Club for the first time this year.

There's no word on whether Johnson, who treated his blockers to dinner at Damon's earlier this year, will take them to a classier joint if they make it to New York.

"We'll have to see," said Lenda, "but it would be nice."

And much deserved.