It's tough to judge someone's character. It's tougher to judge a team's character.

A team, made up of individuals, suffers when one team member does something wrong. But we all know - there's no 'I' in team.

But that has been the case over the past year and a half with the Penn State football program. The events at the Meridian, the HUB-fight and Chris Bell's knife incident all stand out. They happened. They're over. This team, these players, are ready to move on.

This was obvious on Friday, when 96 Penn State football players pushed themselves -- this time for a good cause -- at the sixth annual Lift for Life.

"Half the off-field stuff is what people see, but that's not really us," senior captain Josh Gaines said.

The question we must ask though: What is this team made of, really?

On Friday, it showed its true dedication off the field with Lift for Life. Through six years, the Penn State football team has raised more than $300,000 for kidney cancer.

Gaines had his work cut out for him after he was done lifting. There was that little boy and his dad who had waited for him at the rail for what seemed like an eternity, the little girl who was almost too shy to approach him and the grandmother who needed a handful of autographs for her grandchildren. Gaines stuck around until everyone got his signature.

The rest of the team did much of the same.

Incoming freshmen signed white footballs. Linebacker Sean Lee, dressed in street clothes, slapped low-fives with toddlers and other kids got the chance to be water boys.

"Off the field, a couple of guys got in a couple of tough situations and it didn't reflect well upon the program, but there's a lot of great things that go on with the program and we are really a bunch of good guys that are good people," Brett Bracket said.

The closeness of this team was evident on Friday. It was obvious, as empty-handed players ran stride-for-stride, screaming words of encouragement at teammates who carried 100-pound plates.

This team isn't ready to move on from the issues that tarnished its character, it has moved on.

Quarterback Pat Devlin giggled when asked about how many times he gets asked about the quarterback situation and his completion percentage during the off season.

What you can be sure of is that this team has matured. However many steps there are on the road to recovery and redemption, this team is a couple steps ahead of us.

These players have banded together as they faced criticism and as a result they trust one another and they are fond of each other. This is a team. Grown up.

Its next step is the easiest. Play football.