Anthony Morelli hopped off the team bus, watching his feet as they moved toward the players' entrance. There was a certain eagerness to Morelli's step -- Derrick Williams, the second player inside the stadium, was 20 feet behind the rising junior quarterback.
Morelli stood out, as his red "don't hit me" jersey was in sharp contrast to the offense's whites and the defense's blues.
Not that the different-colored jerseys seemed that effective -- but it depended how you looked at it. The defense wasn't supposed to initiate contact, and it didn't.
Morelli did.
The signal caller took off running three times during the scrimmage, gaining 15 yards and getting clocked each time after running headfirst into a group of defenders. He didn't slide once -- the red jersey was about as useful as a red cape in a bullfight.
After the last hit, media in attendance rose to their feet when Morelli didn't immediately spring upward. The initial clamor was whether he was injured.
Luckily for Penn State, it turned out he was fine -- he just refused to surrender the ball while on the ground, wrestling with receiver-turned-safety Mark Rubin for possession.
Statistics may not mean much in an intrasquad scrimmage, but Morelli still performed well in the QB-rating department. Unofficially, he went 11-for-20, boasting 121 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions during his first three drives.
Morelli was without starting tailback Tony Hunt and left tackle Levi Brown, as both were held out of practice. Held out for the first-team defense were defensive tackle Jay Alford and linebacker Tim Shaw, while safety Donnie Johnson left the field after a few plays.
Morelli's most impressive toss may have come during 7-on-7 drills. After rolling out to his left, he heaved a 40-yard ball straight into the arms of 6-foot-4 tight end Jordan Lyons, who was sprinting across the end zone.
Great Scott
Austin Scott, filling in for Hunt, juked and jived his way to an impressive 39-yard gain during the first play from scrimmage.
The bad news? He had five carries for six yards after that and was chewed out on the field and sent to the sidelines following a one-yard loss on 4th-and-3 during the first drive.
Piece of the Puz-zle
Paul Posluszny, last year's Bednarik and Butkus Award winner, didn't dress as he's still rehabbing a knee injury. Posluszny said two weeks ago he could "play a game right now" if he had to, but was limited to simply jogging across the field.
Posluszny's knee didn't seem to hamper him too much. Puz jogged at least 500 yards throughout the course of the scrimmage. And halfway through his exercise, the senior linebacker jogged 50 yards in an unofficial, hand-timed 6.84 seconds -- not too shabby for not sprinting.
For a little while, lineman Levi Brown was running up and down with Posluszny. It wasn't pretty -- Puz finished about 20-25 yards ahead of Brown ... in a 50-yard race.
King-ly switches
Justin King was positioned at first-team cornerback for the entire scrimmage, doing well to keep up with the likes of Williams and Jordan Norwood.
King also changed his number, from No. 7 to No. 1 -- bad news for fans with recycled Zack Mills jerseys. Hard-hitting sophomore safety Anthony Scirrotto now boasts the No. 7 uniform.
D-Will to play
Williams lined up as the No. 1 wide receiver and seemed back to his usual, speedy self.
He only caught one ball for four yards during the first two drives but was thrown to four times during Morelli's first 13 attempts. Two passes were underthrown while another was ruled incomplete in the end zone -- Williams got a hand on it but was unable to bring the tough catch in.
Still, Williams saw plenty of action and his arm didn't appear to hamper him at all.
Duck hunt
Safety Nolan McCready had the defensive play of the scrimmage when he intercepted a floater from fourth-string quarterback Mike Hart. The senior safety, slated to replace Calvin Lowry, returned the pick for a touchdown.
Back-up linebacker Nic Yocum had the other interception when he caught the ball in traffic.
