Mike McQueary tapped his feet on the Ohio Stadium turf, his right hand keeping the beat against his leg to a familiar classic rock anthem blaring over the PA system Saturday night.

The Penn State receivers coach had gathered his wideouts and positioned them in pairs from the end zone to the 15-yard line. It was time for last-minute warm ups before Penn State's showdown with the Buckeyes.

But before the drill began, McQueary had a pop quiz for one of his senior students.

"Hey Buts," McQueary shouted to Deon Butler. "I'll give you five bucks if you can tell me who this is."

Butler paused and took a few seconds to listen to the music. The guitar solo, thumping drums and lyrics, "Hell's Bells ... " weren't familiar to him.

Butler shrugged. McQueary looked horrified.

"C'mon!" McQueary shouted. "It's AC/DC!"

In his five seasons as a Penn State assistant coach, it seems McQueary hasn't taught many lessons on classic rock. However, he's developed an impressive corps of receivers since taking the job in 2004, most notably Butler and his fellow seniors Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams.

Butler came to Penn State in 2004 as a walk-on defensive back. With McQueary's tutelage, Butler has made 164 career catches and needs just four more to set the all-time record for Penn State.

The undersized Norwood was not highly touted out of high school and didn't enroll at Penn State until January 2005. With McQueary's help, he learned the nuances of the Penn State offense quickly and became a viable target. This season, Norwood leads the Lions with five touchdown catches despite missing two games with an injury. He's currently fourth on the school's career receptions list.

Williams has proved on multiple occasions this season he is Penn State's most dangerous player. He's returned three kicks for touchdowns and owns the record for most return touchdowns under Joe Paterno. Williams is third on Penn State's all-time career receptions list.

All three learned to play wideout as McQueary learned how to coach them.

"When I first came in as a freshman he was basically new to the job too as a receivers coach," Williams said. "He played quarterback, but he's definitely developed himself into a great wide receivers coach."

The trio of Butler, Norwood and Williams all said they have an advantage working closely with McQueary, who played quarterback at Penn State from 1994 to 1997. McQueary started in '97 and led the Nittany Lions to a 9-3 record and a berth in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Before games, Penn State's wideouts take turns catching passes from current quarterbacks, Daryll Clark, Pat Devlin and Paul Cianciolo, but they also take some reps with McQueary, who can still put heat on the ball.

McQueary -- easily identified on the field by his fiery red hair -- stood in the corner of the end zone at Ohio Stadium and rocketed ball after ball toward his receivers. Every couple of throws, McQueary floated a pass or overthrew it purposefully so his players could adjust.

Butler, Norwood and Williams all contend McQueary has completed their game, but in a unique way.

"He leaves everything else up to us as far as catching and running," Butler said. "But getting us into our routes, he kind of teaches it from a quarterback's perspective so it makes it easier for our quarterbacks."

Williams admitted he didn't block often in high school and despite being one of the nation's most sought after recruits before 2005, Williams has said on numerous occasions he really didn't know what it took to play receiver.

When he met McQueary, Williams said, the learning began. Williams and his teammates learned to block downfield on run plays, how to run better routes, how to recognize what a defensive back will do on a certain play and how to adjust to different throws.

"I was just an athlete," Williams said of himself coming out of high school. "I could play anything. But he definitely has developed me and developed the whole group into better receivers."

McQueary also plays a larger role for the Penn State program. As recruiting coordinator, McQueary helped convince Williams and numerous other current Lions to play for Penn State.

Bob Lichtenfels, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com, said McQueary's familiarity with the program is a big advantage in earning players' trust.

"You know the program. You've been through it and you believe in it," Lichtenfels said. "I think his ideas and everything, it's just a fresh newness to the program that it didn't have before. He seems to relate a lot better to the kids."

Butler, who laughed after the Ohio State game about not knowing who performed "Hell's Bells," said his relationship with McQueary has grown over the years.

Early in the careers of Butler, Norwood and Williams, McQueary was more like a parental figure, Butler said. Now he's much more confident in their abilities.

"He's a lot of fun," Butler said. "On the other end, sometimes he gets on our nerves. Sometimes we feel like, 'Hey Mike, you're too uptight.' But I think this year he's been great because he's real comfortable with our wide receiver rotation. He's very comfortable in our top three seniors that we have, and he feels like he's known us forever."

McQueary, with an attitude to match his blazing red locks, is constantly up in arms on the Penn State sideline.

Whether it's over a call he doesn't agree with or a key play made by one of his players, McQueary always seems on edge. Butler agreed with the enthusiastic characterization of his coach, calling McQueary "a lot of fun."

But now that Penn State has positioned itself for a run to the national title, Butler said he's noticed McQueary relaxing more.

"As in the past where he's like, 'Are you guys focused?' and yelling at us, he's asking us about AC/DC before the game," Butler said. "He knows how exciting of an opportunity this is and I think he's just jumped on the bandwagon and he's excited as a coach."