He's not Michael Haynes, nor should anyone expect him to be.

In his first start of the season, Lavon Chisley played what was a typical game for Haynes. Chisley recorded a pair of sacks and five tackles in the opener.

The Penn State football team needs Chisley to continue putting pressure on the opposing quarterbacks as well as playing contain against the run against Boston College.

Chisley has learned a lot from Haynes over the past two seasons. When Chisley saw action, if he made a mistake, Haynes would let him know it.

Last season in the third game against Louisiana Tech, Chisley broke contain and let quarterback Luke McCown get outside of him. His miscue allowed McCown to get close to the goal line.

"He was real tough on me," Chisley said. "Whenever I messed up he told me. It was good being able to redshirt and learn from him."

The learning curve was even more important for Chisley, who only started playing defensive end his senior year at Westlake High School in Md. Before switching to defensive end, Chisley spent his first three seasons at outside linebacker. His senior year, he recorded 17 sacks and 78 tackles.

He made the move to help his team and high school coach Dom Zaccarelli. The switch wasn't too tough for him, he said. The recruiters started showing up once he became a down lineman.

"Until my senior year, I never thought about putting my hand on the ground," Chisley said. "But I had no problem doing it."

Chisley arrived in Happy Valley as a small defensive end. But that has changed. He is now six-foot-five and 265 pounds. Since arriving on campus, he has put on nearly 50 pounds. His first summer after high school, he put on a lot of weight.

"Gaining weight has been the biggest obstacle," Chisley said. "When I got here, they made me eat three or four times a day and I would workout with J.T."

If Chisley had a choice, he prefers to keep his weight light.

The new age of defensive ends is the smaller, quick off the corner defensive ends, like Jason Taylor and Dwight Freeney.

When Chisley recorded his first sack of his career against Mike McGann, he said that he couldn't explain what he was feeling.

He said that as good of a feeling that the sack was, there were other instances throughout the game when he came so close.

"The only thing I can do is try and get back on the next play," Chisley said.

In order to avoid this disappointment of not getting to the quarterback, every week Chisley and the rest of the defensive line make it a point to extensively watch videotape.

Penn State defensive line coach Larry Johnson Sr. makes the linemen evaluate the opposing players that will be lining up against in the upcomming game.

Chisley said he does a lot of work watching the tight ends trying to pick up anything that the offense gives away about the play.

Chisley might have picked up something this week that will give him that split second advantage, making all the difference.