Evan Royster has no problem playing behind rising senior running backs Austin Scott and Rodney Kinlaw this season. He says it would be a chance for him to learn plenty.

However, in Saturday's Blue-White Game, Royster, a redshirt freshman on the White team, didn't have to worry about playing in Scott's shadow. With Scott starting for the Blue team, Royster got to play against him.

Royster got more touches than anyone on the White team and rushed for a team-high 45 yards as White won, 30-6. After the game he was happy and enthusiastic, saying he could compete for playing time this fall even though he acknowledged the field will be competitive.

"Everybody wants the spot, but only one person can have it," Royster said. "If Austin gets it, then Austin gets it. We'll play behind him and keep working."

Penn State coach Joe Paterno was asked about Royster and another young running back, redshirt freshman Brent Carter, during his pre-game press conference. Paterno said both "have a chance to be pretty good backs," but indicated he wanted to wait before evaluating them publicly.

"You gotta see them in some situations where they gotta improvise a little bit; they gotta make somebody miss or do some things," Paterno said. "I think, eventually, both are gonna be good running backs."

Carter ran the ball only four times Saturday, and ended up with 22 yards for the Blue team that was much more focused on the running game than the White team. Blue team quarterbacks handed the ball off 25 times to six different running backs, while White team quarterbacks handed off 13 times to two backs.

Though Scott ended up with more rushing yards -- 53 -- than anyone on the field yesterday, he admitted he was expecting a little more. He had a few short rushes early on before breaking free for a 14-yard run, his longest of the day, late in the first quarter. He ran with a mostly second-team offensive line and said that the young guys struggled a little.

"It was a little bit rough for them," Scott said. "But we tried to work with whatever we had and just kept going."

Still, Scott didn't shy away from questions about being the team's No. 1 running back. When reporters wanted to compare him to Larry Johnson, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in his final year at Penn State, he didn't mind.

"I just want to get out there and play my game," Scott said. "I don't have anything to prove to anyone. I've never doubted myself, and when I get out there, I'm going to do the things that I always knew I could do."

A difficult week

Royster attended the same high school -- Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va. -- as Seung-Hui Cho, who shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech Monday. Among them were two girls who also graduated from Westfield. Royster said he knew both of them.

"It was a real hard week," Royster said. "I've had numerous friends call me and talk to me about it. We're all supporting each other. ... It's hard to lose people you know [and] graduated with."

Saturday's game, he said, was a good way for him to put his sadness aside, and seeing all the fans dressed in maroon and orange helped.

"Everything's behind me when I'm on the field," Royster said. "It's a great feeling to be out there and just playing what I love to play."