When asked about Penn State's new offense, redshirt freshman running back Stephfon Green grinned from ear to ear.
"The No. 1 thing with the spread offense is speed, speed and more speed,'' he said.
Green's purported 4.25 speed in the 40-yard dash is an integral part of the Nittany Lions' new Spread HD offense that will be unveiled this fall.
The offense has not yet been put on display for the public, and most likely won't be fully implemented until the Oregon State game. As far as the name? It's more simple than the name sounds. It features lots of shifts and motions, but the main key is speed.
"It's beyond spread," quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said. "It's a high definition NFL passing game with the spread offense. It's really a glorified wishbone offense."
Imagine Daryll Clark running the option with Green and Derrick Williams as his sidecars bursting to the outsides. That would be a big change for Penn State's conference foes, accustomed to the smash-mouth football that has labeled Penn State and the Big Ten.
The Spread HD was designed to take advantage of Penn State's speed at the skill positions. With a solid core of veteran receivers and a stable of running backs, Paterno wanted to find a way to create mismatches and give opposing defenses fits.
Instead of the receivers and backs staying in one position pre-snap, they'll be put in motion and may even motion into the backfield.
''You're not going to necessarily know where Deon Butler is every time. You're not going to necessarily know where Derrick [Williams] is or Jordan [Norwood] is or any of those guys," Paterno said. "We're going to be able to move them around and put them in different places.''
While most of the pieces are in place, the only remaining question is who will direct the attack.
If the Spread HD truly is a cousin of the wishbone, the more mobile Daryll Clark is, the better.
Clark ran a spread offense in high school, and said he learned a lot from former Penn State signal caller Michael Robinson in 2005, adding the potential for what plays and packages can be run is essentially limitless.
"With Stephfon [Green] and [Evan] Royster being back there, Derrick being back there, reverse here, reverse there, reverse pass here, a lot of quick passes and putting the wideouts in position to make plays, make yards after the catch," Clark said.
But redshirt sophomore Pat Devlin is, according to Paterno, neck and neck with Clark and neither player has separated himself and been named the starter.
Devlin, Pennsylvania's all-time high school passing leader, is viewed as the better passer but less mobile of the two. But he said that notion isn't entirely true, and said he could even imagine lining up next to Clark in the backfield.
"It just kind of comes with the territory," Devlin said. "I don't think a lot of people know I ran the ball a little in high school.
"We were joking around, we were gonna split each other on either side of the center and we were gonna run opposite ways at the snap of the ball, so nobody would know who has the ball."
Playing both quarterbacks at the same time might be a stretch, but Paterno said the offense will look different this fall. And since change is not something that occurs frequently around the program, Paterno's hoping he doesn't become a scapegoat.
"It could stand for 'high definition' or 'highly diverse,' " he said with a laugh. "As long as it doesn't stand for 'huge dud.' "
