At first glance, he may look like the average Penn State student -- but he's not. He swims for the 17th ranked swimming and diving team in America.

At second glance, he may look like the average student-athlete -- but he's not. In a word, Penn State swimming coach Bill Dorenkott sums up Todd Minnier as "special."

The very fact that Minnier would refute this notion is justification enough that the junior from Avon Lake, Ohio, isn't the run-of-the-mill collegiate sports sensation.

His father Steve said it best: "He's very humble, almost unapproachable about swimming. You could talk to him for hours and not even know he was a swimmer."

With the potential Minnier has displayed it is hard to avoid talking about his swimming prowess. This season he already has staked his claim as an elite swimmer.

His accomplishments include: 100- and 200-yard freestyle victories against Tennessee and South Carolina, a 200-yard freestyle win at the Georgia Invitational, 100- and 200-yard freestyle wins against Virginia, a 200-yard butterfly victory against Michigan State, and most recently a first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley against Rutgers.

However, it is not the list of individual accolades that Minnier considers when talking about his swimming achievements.

"My freshman year our 400-yard freestyle relay won and set the Big Ten record, and then we went on to break that record and win it last year," said Minnier, recalling his most memorable moment as a Nittany Lion swimmer during the Big Ten Championships.

"It's just more fun having three guys up there with you, and it just makes it that much more exciting and usually everyone swims better," he said.

Minnier's success has been no surprise to his father, who recalls that he knew Todd would excel in swimming at a high level when he was ten years old.

Already a three-time age group national champion by the age of ten, he began training with high school swimmers at St. Ignatius H.S. It was at this time he began to weed out other sports and devote year-round attention to swimming.

Minnier attended St. Ignatius, where he became the Ohio state champion in the 100-yard freestyle during his junior year, an accomplishment that escalated his collegiate prospects.

However, his senior year would not be remembered for another state championship, but for a moment his father proclaims is indicative of Minnier's personality.

He lost in defense of his 100-yard freestyle state championship by .01 seconds to the kid he beat his junior year. His father asked him how he felt after the race and Todd replied, "I would've liked to have won, but [he's] a good kid. Now he'll get to be recruited as a state champion like I was."

Virtually all the top swimming schools such as Stanford, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee recruited Minnier.

"He had many chances to go to swimming-rich schools," his father said, "but Todd was looking for the balance between athletics and academics."

Minnier could have gone to Florida or Stanford and received the balance Penn State provides, but he wanted to be close enough to visit his family when he felt the need.

Todd has certainly found the academic and swimming combination that clicks. He is an Academic All-American carrying a 3.76 GPA while majoring in Information Sciences and Technology. Maintaining studies with swimming is assuredly a tedious task, but for this not-so-average student-athlete it's just part of the balanced college experience he yearned for.

Aside from athletic and academic accolades, there remains a scintillating untapped potential within Minnier. If he develops the drive strong enough to obtain it, there could be few swimmers in the country at his level.

"He doesn't think he's as good as he really is, so he just trains to be better than average," said Eugene Botes, a senior on the Lions team. "He could be one of the top swimmers in the country."

Coach Dorenkott recalls how he has grown closer and more understanding of Todd since last season.

"I've watched him grow as a person," Dorenkott said, "and I think that the best part of college athletics is watching a person evolve."

Todd has yet to evolve into the swimmer that Dorenkott and others know he can be.

"The thing that separates Todd is he is a gamer," Dorenkott said. "He really loves to race.

"I haven't met or coached many athletes that love to race like him ... I think he has a fear because he knows in the back of his mind how good he is. If he can go out realizing his potential on his own terms, then he will have left his mark on this program."

However, attaining swimming superstardom isn't something that Minnier strives for.

"I definitely haven't fully realized [my potential]," Minnier said.

"It just requires a lot of time and a matter of giving it the time and attention it deserves. It's hard to balance with academics and social life. I've always been a believer of balance, and I'm not going to neglect a certain part of my life for something else."

Whether Todd reaches his full potential or continues to swim at the extremely competitive level he's at, he has already put his above-average mark on the Penn State swimming program.

For right now he'll take his relay team records, the 3.76 GPA that earned him Academic All-American status, and if he must, he'll acknowledge the individual honors. It seems to be good enough for him and it seems to be pretty sufficient for the Lions swim team.

For right now.