There were reasons either way.

Reasons to go a year early, to an NFL career. Reasons to stay, with his teammates, for a senior finale.

But after receiving his talent assessment from the NFL, rising senior cornerback Alan Zemaitis has decided that the scale has been tipped in favor of staying, meaning that he will finish out his college eligibility at Penn State next fall.

"I'm gonna ride this thing out," Zemaitis said. "I'm not ready for the real world."

As all underclassmen are permitted to do, Zemaitis filed the necessary paperwork with the NFL after the 2004 football season to receive a projection as to which round he would be selected in, were he to declare for the draft this spring. Zemaitis did not disclose his exact expected status, wanting to keep that specific information within his family, but he did make clear that he was pleased with the feedback.

"I definitely could have gone this year," he said. "Everything was looking good. I didn't get a first-round [projection], but let me just say that if anyone else was in my position, they would have bounced."

Zemaitis received his draft grade from the league while at home during winter break and, together with his family, made the decision to finish out his time at Penn State.

The reasons he cites are plentiful. He wants to finish his communications degree, for his grandmother. He's not worried about injury. He doesn't want to cut short his time with his teammates, especially the two with whom he lives. But the reason primarily driving his decision is his excitement for the 2005 Penn State season.

"I know we're gonna do something special," Zemaitis said. "Our defense, we're gonna hold it down. And I can become better. I know I got a future in the next level -- now that I know, I'm more directed."

Much of his excitement stems from the fact that Penn State's defense, the momentum-building half of the 2004 squad, will be adopting a more aggressive approach, including more pressure packages and mixing of schemes. For Zemaitis, that means he'll be able to break out of the rut of cover corner.

"The biggest thing this year is, because of the security about my position, I want to be able to be used all over the field," Zemaitis said. "They didn't do that with me last year; this system was just starting. Now the defensive strategy is getting stronger, everyone understands their positions and we're doing a lot of different things we haven't done."

And, as one of the vocal seniors on the team, he's also thrilled to teach the younger guys on the team what the defense is all about. That includes highly ranked cornerback recruit Justin King, an early enrollee this spring, who Zemaitis said is "doing great."

"Our senior class, we got the toolbox to make these guys All-Americans before you know it, so don't worry about them little guys," Zemaitis said, including the team's young receivers in this assessment. "It's not coaches who get you ready -- that's the reason senior leadership is talked about so much -- we're supposed to get the guys ready, so when they get out there, they got the tools, and we just let them go. Any young guy comes in, he's gonna learn from me to put it down at an early age."

Of course, that goal is second only to Zemaitis showing that he can put it down, better than ever before, in his final go at college football. Because in the way he talks about "studying the position of cornerback" and becoming "the badmouth, get-in-the-face-of-players" kind of guy, it's pretty darn clear what he has in mind for when it is his time to bounce -- the first round.