Both Dan Connor and Sean Lee are Penn State linebackers who want to be known for what they produce on the field.

However, it's the personality they bring to the game that puts the two players, as Connor puts it, "on opposite sides of the spectrum."

"It's a clash of personalities," Connor, a rising senior, said of his relationship with Lee, a rising junior. "Somehow it works out. We're good friends and it really vibes well on the field."

Despite their differences, Connor and Lee can agree that the most important thing is that they're working well together on the field. Even though Connor has earned himself a reputation as a bit of a jokester, while Lee is more straight-laced, the two say they're focused on holding down the linebacker position, especially after the departure of former captain Paul Posluszny.

Posluszny compiled 116 tackles and three sacks last year, and earned the No. 1 spot all-time for career tackles at Penn State. Lee and Connor started every game alongside Posluszny at linebacker last year, and both acknowledged that they'll need to make more plays now that he's gone.

"I've learned so much from him," Connor said. "But it'll be nice to be out there on my own."

Though their personality differences are apparent now, both Connor and Lee have been brought up as competitive people who are all business on the field.

Lee's serious ways stem from a love of competition, said his high school coach, Jim Render, of Upper St. Clair High School, near Pittsburgh.

And it wasn't just football that he loved competing at. Render remembers Lee as a junior, playing in a mud volleyball game that featured the school's juniors against the seniors. The juniors had never beaten their elder schoolmates, but Lee wasn't going to let that stop him.

"He fired everybody up," Render said. "[He] said, 'we're not gonna lose this game.' "

They didn't; the juniors beat the seniors for what Render said was the first time in school history.

Though Lee has been known for his seriousness since his high school days, Connor hasn't always had a reputation for joking around. In fact, his high school coach, Kevin Clancy, said he never really saw that side of Connor, opting instead to describe him as "serious, but relaxed," in his days at Strath Haven High School. Clancy remembers him as a guitar player who spent time with teammates and non-athletes.

Even as an underclassman, Connor had the respect of the older players at Strath Haven, Clancy said. When it came time for him to lead, Clancy said, it wasn't by yelling. It was just by playing.

"The first source of his leadership was his play on the field," Clancy said. "He plays hard; he plays well. Guys like to play with guys like that."

When he put his helmet on, however, he was all business, Clancy said. That trend has continued to today.

"Dan's serious when he needs to be and he's hilarious," Lee said. "He knows when to be serious and when to be funny."