When asked how Jerome Hayes' injury would affect his defensive line, Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley just shook his head.

What had been considered a strength of the defense coming into the season morphed into a giant question mark in as much time as it took to cover a punt.

With the loss of Hayes, the Nittany Lions lose their newly anointed starter at defensive end and one of the team's best pass rushers.

Coupled with the dismissals of defensive tackles Chris Baker and Phil Taylor, the suspensions of tackle Abe Koroma and end Maurice Evans, and the season-ending injury to tackle Devon Still, it's getting tough to find a healthy defensive lineman walking around the Lasch football building.

Penn State started the summer with 16 eligible scholarship linemen. Now, the Lions only have 10 available, including five freshmen.

"We're fortunate we have some young kids," head coach Joe Paterno said. "We're short a guy now, but there's some possibilities to make ourselves a little stronger inside and be able to free up a player like [Tom] McEowen."

There are a number of possible directions the defensive coaches could go with regards to reinforcing the line.

First, two linemen, senior Josh Gaines and freshman Jack Crawford, can play either tackle or end. Both are natural ends but have enough size to battle inside. Their versatility should allow Bradley to keep his guys fresh and mix up the looks.

Gaines said he's comfortable playing both positions and welcomes the challenge of playing more snaps and serving as the line's pillar.

"[Defensive line] coach [Larry] Johnson's been on me, saying, 'We're going to have to rely on you.' I'm ready for the challenge," Gaines said of his ever-increasing role. "It's tiring, but I feel good."

A second option is to start playing the freshmen. Four of the first-year guys -- Crawford, Kevion Latham, Eric Latimore and Chima Okoli -- saw time during the waning moments of the first two blowouts.

But there's a big difference between playing with a 31-point lead with five minutes to play and trying to stop Ohio State All-American running back Chris "Beanie" Wells at the goal line with the game on the line.

Another potential solution would be switching players' positions. Hayes began his Penn State career, and is still listed on the roster as a linebacker. He bulked up to 246 lbs. in order to fight with linemen.

For a linebacker to make the move he'd have to be fairly big already since it's tough to add good weight during the season because most of the team's focus is one gameplans instead of lifting, in fact, players usually lose weight during the course of a season. But, freshman Nate Stupar is close to 230 lbs. and played a lot of rush end when he starred at State College Area High School two years ago.

Bradley said he wasn't sure just what direction the coaching staff will take, but said there are plenty of options on the table. The Lions may even change strategies based upon what they see during the Syracuse game.

"There are a couple things we can do, whether it's move guys around or change the scheme a little," Bradley said. "We've got to find what works this week in practice and go from there."

With so much in doubt regarding the depth of the defensive line, the linemen all said they knew one thing for certain -- they've got to step up even more.

Gaines needs to continue to play like the captain and improve upon his honorable mention All-Big Ten honors from last season. Aaron Maybin needs to prove he can fill in for Hayes in the long term and provide a pure speed rusher off the edge. He leads the team with three sacks but has never started a game for the Lions.

And tackle Jared Odrick said everyone else needs to stay together and, more importantly, stay on the field. He said losing Hayes will serve as motivation because the line wants to perform well for its brother and prove it is still a strength of the defense.

"It's very unfortunate it had to happen to him, but as a D-line I think we'll pull through," Odrick said. "We've got guys able to stay strong and keep going.

"It's another shot at our armor and we've got to pick up the slack for our fallen soldiers."