Shaved into Derrick Williams' hair, just above his left temple, was a star.
"That's his thing," said cornerback Justin King, laughing. "I guess he sees himself as a star."
Whatever the impetus for the new 'do may have been, Williams shined brightly in Penn State's win against Notre Dame underneath the Beaver Stadium lights. His 78-yard punt return touchdown led post-game conversation on Saturday about the solid performance from Penn State's special teams units.
"It's one-third of a game," cornerback Lydell Sargeant said. "I feel like we did really well on special teams. Derrick's return. We had some big time punts. [Kevin] Kelly kicked a good game. I think if you play a good special teams game, you're a pretty high success rate."
With the dominance of Penn State's defense these past two games and the continual prodding of quarterback Anthony Morelli and running back Austin Scott, the special teams units are often absent from publicity. But on Saturday, Williams, Kelly and A.J. Wallace all received notice.
On kickoffs, Kelly booted two touchbacks, a feat complicated this year by a new rule. This spring, the NCAA pushed back kickoffs to the 30-yard line from the 35-yard line.
The move, generally, has affected starting field position.
Well, except for Saturday night.
"Boy, those aluminum cans are great, those non-returnables," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "I call them aluminum cans because they're non-returnable. When he does that, it's key because it's a longer field."
If Kelly was kicking non-returnables, Penn State almost got a complete reimbursement when Wallace had a 68-yard kickoff return to start the second half.
But no special teams play was bigger than Williams' punt return.
With about a minute remaining in the first half, Williams plucked the ball at its lowest point, just off his cleats, on Penn State's 22-yard line. He then stumbled forward, evaded a tackler and broke up the right sideline. Williams moved quickly through a clot of Notre Dame defenders and made his way into the open field.
"The only thing I can say was I was trying to run fast and get out of that situation," Williams said.
Around the 25-yard line he cut past Irish safety Tom Zbikowski and glided into the endzone with his arms extended toward the student section.
Williams' touchdown evened the score, 7-7, giving Penn State a boost right before the second quarter.
"For Derrick to be able to run that punt back like that, that put us heads over heels with confidence," Morelli said. "We were able to go out and put some stuff together. That's phenomenal. Special teams and defense is going to win big time games like this."
