There were five different running backs who carried the ball, and none of them stood out from the pack.

The running back who stood on the sideline in street clothes for the 52nd annual Blue-White game has been one drawing a lot of attention.

Austin Scott, the Parkland High School standout who rushed for more than 3,800 yards during his high school season, watched his teammates struggle to show the ability to replace 2,000-yard rusher Larry Johnson.

There are questions surrounding whether Scott can tear up Big Ten competition as a true freshman the way he did against Woodland Hills High School in the PIAA class AAAA championship. Scott rushed for 251 yards and five touchdowns in that game.

The last true freshman to start in the backfield for the Nittany Lions was Eric McCoo in the 1998 season.

Mike Gasparato is more than open to Scott gaining playing time, if it will help the team win.

"I have seen Austin play, he is a real good back," Gasparato said. "If he can come in here and help out then more power to him. We just want to win football games, we have been here when we haven't been winning football games."

Gasparato said that like Scott, many of the current Penn State running backs were highly recruited, and had a lot of hype surrounding them coming out of high school.

With Scott still in high school, the other tailbacks took to the field Saturday afternoon. Gasparato started for the Blue squad and received the most carries, 12, on the day. He took advantage of what he called "additional carries," because of some injuries. He led all rushers with 62 yards.

The other experienced running back is Ricky Upton, who didn't play in the spring game. Upton carried the ball eight times for 37 yards in 2002 and has 109 yards rushing for his career.

Tim Shaw and Donnie Johnson are both inexperienced tailbacks that have been gaining much-needed experience this spring.

"They got a lot of carries this spring in scrimmages and practices," Gasparato said. "Sometimes people don't realize it's hard to come right in out of high school and just start playing at a big time school." Johnson had seven touches and scampered for 34 yards, making him the second-leading rusher in the game. Shaw only had three carries in the game for six yards, but said that he gained valuable experience last season by not redshirting.

"The biggest thing was pass-protecting, and I got so much better," Shaw said. "Most of my improvement came every week during practice taking reps with the second and third team."

Not totally out of the question is Penn State returning to a running-back-by-committee format, and the jury is still out on how effective that system is.

"It wouldn't bother me that much, but then again I haven't been in the situation yet," Gasparato said.