Pull back from center, and there's that twinge again.

A twinge in the injured right shoulder, still not fully healed from a slight separation. A twinge of doubt in the mind, still not fully certain if the second option at receiver is running the right route. If the pass will be dropped. If it's going to get tipped again, right to a defender.

If the coach is thinking about that strong-armed freshman on the bench.

Hard to say which hurts more at this point -- the shoulder or the psyche. Not that Zack Mills would let it on. The only clues are the subtle grimaces caught by the TV cameras, but those really only show the physical pain.

"I'm getting all my reps," Mills said. "I'm OK, but I'm still a little sore. Luckily I didn't take any shots last Saturday and hopefully there will be none this Saturday. I'm not sure how it will react when I take a shot on it."

As for the mental stuff, one wonders if anyone really knows how much of it exists. It's clear there used to be more for the fifth-year senior quarterback, but these days it only slips through in brief statements and calm tones.

"I hate losing," Mills said, though there is no hate in his voice. There never is. "It's very frustrating to lose week in and week out. It's a very, very negative feeling."

That feeling is still relatively new for Mills, despite the current funk around the Penn State program when it comes to such things. In high school, Mills' Urbana teams won two Maryland state titles. In his first season of playing at Penn State, the team went 5-6, but it was Mills who was largely responsible for those five wins.

The 2002 season brought about a New Year's Day bowl and it wasn't really until last season that things began to plummet with Mills at the helm.

This season hasn't been terribly smooth either. A litany of turnovers, an injury to his top playmaker Michael Robinson and a group or receivers that may rank as one of the most unimpressive in recent history.

While criticisms of his arm strength may be valid, Mills has been plagued more by personnel than anything. He was perhaps spoiled in his first two seasons when he had a talented and steady target in Bryant Johnson to throw to. A receiver like that can more than make up for any shortcomings.

"A guy like Bryant, he just made plays," Mills said. "You didn't have to make the perfect throw. It could be a little off, a little short, a little long. You realized no matter what, it's going to be caught most of time and if it's not, then it's just an incompletion. The biggest thing with Bryant was that I had all the confidence in the world with him."

And that says it all for Mills right now. It's hard to have confidence in your current batch of wideouts, sans Robinson, when they don't catch the balls that hit them in the chest.

Yet here he is again, out there playing through an injury, as he did in 2002 and again to an extent in 2003. His teammates call him "warrior" and speak of him with a fierce respect that dares anyone to question their leader.

"When it comes down to it, the kid's been a performer," fullback Paul Jefferson said. "A lot of those mistakes could probably be blamed on someone else, but he takes it with a grain of salt. It's a shame things aren't better for the team because the guy does everything he can to prepare.

"The bottom line is, we all gotta help Zack out a little bit more."

This wasn't how Mills envisioned things, not even after last season. This year was supposed to be different. It still has a chance to be, but Mills admitted things haven't gone as well as he hoped thus far.

While things have gotten worse for him, he can look across the field Saturday at his counterpart, Purdue's Kyle Orton, and can't help but feel a bit of envy. Mills admitted as much. The Boilermakers are at the head of the Big Ten right now and Orton has a solid group of receivers including a likely All-American in Taylor Stubblefield.

Mills' top target right now is a true freshman and his No. 2 is possibly his running back. A far cry from years past.

And now halfway through his final season at Penn State, the realization dawns that it might be the final season of football altogether for Mills, at least in as significant a role as he has now.

So, injury or not, he's going to play. Regardless of the situation, it's still football.

"I just go out there and try and play to the best of my ability," Mills said. "If guys see that and look up to that, that's great. To me, it's something I'm just doing and I'm playing as long as I can. If I'm healthy enough, I'll do it."