As good as Alan Zemaitis felt about his return to the football field against Temple, he's realizes in the long run, football isn't the most important thing in life.

On a January afternoon this past winter, Zemaitis was driving home from after visiting his cousin, when his car hit a patch of ice and he lost control. The car flipped twice and landed upside down after traveling 100 feet.

When the car came to a halt, Zemaitis' head had gone through the windshield, but he remained conscious.

He was then able to punch out the back window, before crawling out of it. Zemaitis said he thought he was fine, until he noticed blood pouring from his head.

Zemaitis is lucky to be alive, let alone playing Penn State football.

Since his accident, his views on life have changed.

"It made me not appreciate football as much after going through the accident." Zemaitis said. "I'm going to play as hard as I can, but if something happens to me, I'm not going to be terribly heart-broken. There's so much more to life than what the world wants you to think is the most important thing. I'm so eager to find out what that is."

In the accident., Zemaitis suffered severe head lacerations, but be said he really didn't undergo any rehabilitation, except for concussion and trauma tests.

Only seven months after the accident, Zemaitis was one of the 11 Nittany Lions on the field when Mike McGann of Temple took the first snap of the 2003 season.

In his first start, he made five tackles, leading Penn Stale in pass deflections with four. Zemaitis said that he felt he did good job disguising his defenses and baiting Temple into making throws.

Zemaitis made one of the biggest defensive stops, with the Lions' defense backed up against its own three-yard line in the third quarter against Temple. On third down, Temple's McGann challenged Zemaitis, who was in man-to-man coverage. He rose to the challenge and knocked down the pass preventinga touchdown.

I thought that they wouldn't run the fade," Zemaitis said. "They didn't have a lot of room to run it and I knew they wouldn't run the slant. There were too many guys in the box. I played the pass right and made the play."

But even with the solid effort Zemaitis put forth, he admitted that he's not a 100-percent.

"Half of my head is numb or tingling because the nerves and feeling are still coming back," Zemaitis said. "There are places where it's sensitive. I have something in my helmet that cushions my forehead in between the padding."

Zemaitis knew that he had to get back on the field as quickly as possible after injury, otherwise someone else would have scooped up Bryan Scott's vacant cornerback position.

"I remember I wanted to hurry up and get back on the field," Zemaitis said. "At this level, there's going to be people who want your position. I knew I was going to be the first guy to get the position after Bryan Scott left, so I wanted to get on the field as soon possible."

One of those players that competed all summer with Zemaitis for the starting job at cornerback was Maurice Humphrey.

However, in the end, it was Zemaitis who received the nod from Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.

Paterno said before the Temple game that cornerback isn't one of those positions that a lot of players can be rotated in at.

"They make one mistake," Paterno said, "it is six points."

Zemaitis said he and Humphrey attempt to help one another more often, than just competing against each other in practice. This way they both benefit from one another, despite the fact it is Zemaitis who is starting on Saturdays.

"We look at it as I'm the older guy and he's the younger guy," Zemaitis said. "There's no trash talking or exchanges. It really doesn't matter who starts -- I just want to win. Right now I'm starting, but anything can happen throughout the week."

While it is important to both start and win football games every Saturday, there are more important things in life, and Zamaitis has learned one of those lessons the hard way.

Zemaitis now is just happy that he's walking around, considering his accident.

"I just remember walking to classes," Zemaitis said.

"The sun was out and I was smiling for no reason. You feel reborn, it doesn't matter how many scars are on your face it just feels so good to walk and smell the air."