It's only one practice. One out of 15 that will take place this spring, and with all other practices closed, one out of only two times the public or media get to see the team play this spring.

So, to say the quarterback position is up for grabs might be presumptuous -- but that's exactly how things appeared to be Saturday at the Penn State football team's open practice and scrimmage in Beaver Stadium.

Both quarterbacks -- senior Zack Mills and junior Michael Robinson -- made plays at times, but neither seemed to particularly separate himself from the other as the day progressed.

The open scrimmage -- which was the conclusion of the Penn State football program's annual coaches clinic -- started with Mills running the first team offense against the second-team defense. Competing against the squad's second-string of defenders, the senior showed the precision and playmaking abilities reminiscent of his redshirt freshman year.

In fact, Mills' only incompletion on the opening drive was a drop by Gerald Smith on a routine wide out screen pass with Smith lined up in the slot.

The majority of the plays in that opening drive were passes, culminating in a deep pass by Mills to Terrance Phillips, who was covered tightly on a fly pattern down the sideline. The ball was thrown perfectly by Mills, given the coverage, and Phillips made a nice grab inside the five-yard line.

The drive concluded with senior kicker Robbie Gould missing a 47-yard field goal, wide left.

Robinson, playing with the second team offense, took the field next against the first-team defense.

Robinson looked shaky playing against the squad's top defensive unit and, at least on this day, didn't show his typical explosive athleticism that had so many Lions' fans calling for him to supplant Mills as the top signal-caller.

The versatile junior only threw deep on a few occasions and each time the passes were inaccurate. The play calling did seem to get more run-oriented when Robinson entered the game, however.

And later in the practice, Robinson looked more comfortable throwing and using his quick feet, showing some accuracy in completing two medium-range passes to Ryan Scott and some athleticism while faking a pitch, then running offtackle and scoring from 20 yards out.

The sparkling performance by Mills early lost some of its luster when the Ijamsville, Md. native started playing against the first-team defense. With his ball seeming to have noticeably lost some of its zip from the first drive, Mills had a little less success making plays with his arm, as he had to throw the ball away on a few occasions to avoid a sack. Mills also made some poor decisions, throwing one pass that was picked off easily by cornerback Anwar Phillips, who took the interception all the way back for a score.

Given each quarterback's performance against the first team defense, it would appear Mills holds only a slight edge over Robinson.

While the quarterback situation is still a bit muddled for Penn State, the bright spots from the team's work on Saturday should be reassuring to Lions fans. Sophomore Austin Scott got at least 75 percent of the snaps at running back with the first team. Last season's leading rusher didn't have any breakaway runs but was able to consistently pick solid yardage on the ground, though this did come against the Lions make-shift defense line that gave up 209 yards per game on the ground last season.

There were also the receivers. They actually caught some passes, something that happened not nearly enough in 2003.

Junior Phillips stood out particularly. In addition to the long pass he caught from Mills, Phillips also hauled in a ball he had to juggle into his arms after it had been thrown behind him.

Senior Gerald Smith, who said last week he was looking to be the "go-to-guy" on offense, struggled, dropping a few passes and not making any note-worthy plays. Terrell Golden caught a touchdown pass against the second-team defense.

The young linebacking corpse also looked respectable. Sophomore Paul Posluszny appears to be asserting himself as the leader of the unit. The second-year man has bulked up to 228 pounds -- looking just as quick as he did 20 pounds lighter -- and called the plays for the first-team defense from his strong-side linebacker spot. This is probably because Posluszny's fellow starters at backer are sophomores -- BranDon Snow and Tim Shaw -- playing the position for the first time since playing in the offensive backfield as freshman.

None of the players were made available to comment on how the day's workout would effect their standing on the depth chart.

Then again, it was just one practice.

Derek Levarse and Jenny Vrentas, Collegian staff writers, contributed to this report.