In the summer of 2003, Penn State's coaches had a feeling Chad Henne would play a significant role in this Saturday's game against Michigan.

They just thought he would be playing for them.

In his third year now as Michigan's starting quarterback, Henne is set to make his first collegiate appearance in his home state. His decision before his senior year in high school to spurn the Nittany Lions helped set about a sort of domino effect that led both teams' offenses to where they are now.

For three months in 2003, the Lions' coaching staff was nearly certain it had its man, nearly certain it had the future starting quarterback it coveted and recruited for two-and-a-half years.

As the coaching staff discovered in late August that year, nothing is certain in the recruiting business until ink meets paper, and the recruit signs his name to a national letter of intent.

Henne called Joe Paterno in May of his junior year to tell the coach he would attend Penn State.

Though he gave Paterno his word, Henne's recruitment was far from over. The coaches continued to keep in touch with him, but so, too, did Michigan's.

In those summer months between Henne's initial verbal and his press conference before the start of preseason practice at Wilson High School in Wyomissing, Pa., the recruit reconsidered his options and weighed his priorities again. Michigan, he was told, was the school to attend if he wanted to be an NFL quarterback. And it was Michigan that was able to offer an immediate shot at the starting job. Penn State, however, did not offer Henne the opportunity of immediate playing time.

"You've got to be honest and up front," quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said. "We presented an honest picture of what we're about, we didn't try to B.S. anybody. Penn State's not for everybody, it takes a certain type of person to come and play here. We're not going to come out and tell kids they can start and promise them this and that."

But still, Henne knew this since the start of the recruiting process, which, according to Jim Cantafio, his high school coach, was just after his freshman season at Wilson. Paterno and his staff recognized Henne's potential early on, and communicated with him as much as the NCAA's recruiting rules would allow.

"Penn State wanted Chad Henne as much as they wanted any other player they ever recruited," Cantafio recalls. "They did everything they possibly could to get him, and worked very hard, very professionally."

As the Lions' coaches continued to check in with Henne regularly in the weeks leading up to his press conference, there was no sign that the highly touted quarterback would renege on his commitment to Joe Paterno.

Just 36 hours before the press conference, Henne even called Penn State assistant coach Bill Kenney, the recruiter responsible for that region, to tell him, as Jay Paterno recounted, that he "couldn't wait to announce for Penn State."

That phone call made it all the more flabbergasting when Henne came out and announced his intentions to don the maize and blue and play for the Wolverines.

"Obviously, when he came out and announced for Michigan, we were shocked," Jay Paterno said.

Henne apparently liked the idea of challenging for a starting spot as a true freshman, and took even more of a liking to the fact that starting quarterbacks from Michigan usually wind up in the NFL. Seven Michigan quarterbacks have started in the NFL over the past 18 years, and five are currently on NFL rosters.

"I just felt a lot more comfortable here with Scot Loeffler [Michigan's quarterback coach] and him developing me as a quarterback than with Jay Paterno," Henne said this week.

Penn State, meanwhile, was in a bind: When Henne committed to the Lions in May, the coaching staff stopped pursuing other recruits at quarterback.

The same week Henne announced his plans to go to Michigan, Anthony Morelli, a blue chip quarterback prospect from Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh, gave his verbal commitment to head coach Walt Harris at Pittsburgh.

Penn State had missed out on the top two quarterback prospects in its own back yard, and desperately tried to play catch-up after feeling secure at that position.

How did this happen? Many blame Henne, while it is rumored that some blamed Cantafio, who often acted as a go-between from schools to Henne. The high school coach, however, is a longtime Penn State supporter and, at the time, an acquaintance of several coaches.

"I was as big a Penn State fan as there was, I obviously wanted him to go to Penn State," Cantafio said. "There was a time where I honestly thought he would go to Penn State, but Chad never, ever told me anything during the summer before he made his decision."

Though Cantafio declined to comment, there seems to have been a falling out between him and his contacts at Penn State. He is now a diehard Michigan fan, traveling to every game in support of his former star quarterback.

As the recruiting season entered its final stage in January 2004, quarterbacks Paul Cianciolo and Kevin Suhey had already committed to the Lions, but they were not at nearly the same level as Henne. The coaches kept plugging away, going after Darryl Clark, trying to land a young quarterback to lead the team after Zack Mills and Michael Robinson matriculated. After all, no one knew better than Penn State's coaching staff how unpredictable the recruiting process could turn out.

In the first week of the new year, new hope was given to the staff, as Morelli called the Penn State football offices and expressed his interest in giving the Lions a look.

"God has a plan for everyone," Jay Paterno said. "It's one of those things where one door closes and one or even two more doors open."

Before Joe Paterno gave the go-ahead to resume recruiting Morelli, he stipulated that the quarterback go tell Harris he was reopening the recruiting process, that he was no longer firm in his commitment to Pitt.

"Joe [Paterno] demands that people be up front in the whole recruiting process," Jay Paterno said.

So Morelli drove to Harris' office and told him in person, officially reopening his search. Within days, Jay Paterno was in the Morelli residence, explaining Penn State's offensive philosophies and what it took to play in the program.

About a week later, Morelli visited University Park with his father, Greg, and was hosted on his stay by rising senior Mills. Greg Morelli said the fact that Mills was so honest and down to earth really resonated with his son. Before leaving, the prospect had his picture taken with Joe Paterno.

"They were just up front and honest with me, and that's the kind of people I want to deal with," Morelli said yesterday of his Penn State recruiters. "I don't want to be lied to, I don't want anybody beating around the bush."

A short time after his visit to Penn State, Morelli's entire family hosted an evening at his uncle's house, where Joe and Jay Paterno and defensive coordinator Tom Bradley -- who is Penn State's recruiter in that area -- came to talk with Anthony and his father.

If he writes a book on recruiting, Jay Paterno said the events of that night will certainly be included.

"It was literally an Italian experience," the younger Paterno recalled. "The only people at the table were men, while all the women were in the kitchen. The men sat and ate dinner and talked about all types of business. It was a stereotypical Italian night."

After their discussions over Morelli's future, the men joined the women for dessert and ate cannolis.

When the three coaches were leaving the house that night, Morelli came to the door and handed the head coach a wrapped package, telling his guests they could open it on their way home.

About five minutes later, when his curiosity got the best of him, Joe Paterno opened the package and found the picture that was taken of him and Morelli during the latter's visit to Penn State a few weeks prior. On the back of the photo was a simple but powerful message.

"Coach, it will be an honor to play for you."

Morelli didn't want everyone else at his house that night to know he had come to a decision, and wanted only the coaches to be aware of his intentions.

"That told me all you needed to know about the kid," Jay Paterno said. "He thought it was an honor to play for Joe. That told me that he got it."

While Morelli got it, Penn State's coaches got their man -- and had it in writing, too.

The five-star quarterback waited until signing day to announce his decision publicly, and was, as his position coach calls him, the crown jewel of a recruiting class that includes nine players who have started at least one time this season.

Though others in Morelli's class saw playing time before him, Henne likely would have been in a similar situation had he come to Penn State -- having to wait two years behind more experienced starting quarterbacks.

"[Henne] wouldn't have beaten out Mills in 2004, and he definitely would not have beaten Michael Robinson last year," Jay Paterno said.

For his part, Henne made out quite well, winning the starting job at Michigan in his first year. In that 2004 season, Henne became the first true freshman to ever lead his team to a Big Ten title and just the second true freshman quarterback to start a BCS bowl game.

"He just happened to walk into the situation where he got to play a couple years before I did," Morelli said, adding that there was no Michael Robinson in front of Henne. "I waited my turn, it's a learning experience. And now I'm out there. I'm not going to complain."

No, Morelli's not going to complain. He and Penn State will simply continue being up front and honest, displaying the characteristics that attracted the quarterback to the program, and vice versa.