It was just minutes before arguably the biggest game of his career.

With his Big Ten and national championship dreams just moments away from being put to its stiffest test, Deon Butler gathered Penn State's receivers and defensive backs -- signs of his present and past -- around him in the southwest corner of Ohio Stadium.

Then suddenly, just before taking the field for final pregame warm-ups, the often soft-spoken Butler unleashed a fury of emotion.

"Let's go," Butler shouted. "We are Penn State. We are not normal. We are legends, a'ight? People will tell their kids about us, a'ight? We are not normal. We are Penn State."

For Butler it was his way of helping his teammates prepare for the hostile environment they were just moments away from entering.

It was his way of using his experience as a four-year starter to serve as a leader for his inexperienced teammates.

It was his way of making sure everyone was ready to do whatever was asked to keep the Nittany Lions' perfect record intact and their national title hopes alive.

Proving his worth

Butler's impact on the Penn State program, or at least the offense, was relatively unexpected when he first set foot on campus.

As a 5-foot-10, 150-pound senior at C.D. Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Va., Butler was considered too small by most major colleges. In fact, only FCS schools William & Mary, Coastal Carolina and Hampton offered Butler scholarships, and they wanted him to play defense.

Butler's mother, Valerie, said she didn't want money to be an issue when it came time for Deon to make a college decision.

"I told him not to worry about money," Valerie Butler said. "We would find a way to make sure he could go wherever he wanted."

If the only thing holding him back was the lack of height, Butler was undaunted. It had always been an issue thrown at him and Butler said he was used to it.

He said he used it as motivation because he wanted to prove he could cut it at the Division I level.

"I've always been confident in myself and my abilities, but I've always been questioned because I'm small," Butler said. "People act like [I] just turned out to be small. [I've] always been small [my] whole life so I know how to handle [myself] in situations like that."

The first-team All State defensive back and second-team receiver said he was convinced he had the skills to make a roster if given the opportunity. And since Penn State coaches had told him they were close to offering him one of their final scholarships, Butler felt he had a pretty good shot of finding a roster spot.

But perhaps the most motivating and encouraging advice came from his mother.

"I told him to reach for the moon and if he'd miss he'd still be a star," Valerie Butler said.

So he followed her advice and decided to follow his dream of playing major college football.

Five years later, Butler's on the verge of having his name placed ahead of some of the best receivers to come through Penn State.

Leaving his scholarship offers behind, Butler walked-on at Penn State in 2004. He spent most of that season as a scout team defensive back and took a redshirt. But a need for receivers moved Butler to the other side of the ball.

His work ethic and willingness to make a position change impressed the coaching staff enough that Butler was offered a scholarship before his redshirt freshman year.

But Butler didn't stop there. He flourished at his new position, leading the team in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns.

The Lions finished 11-1 that year, including a win in the Orange Bowl.

Butler said that even though he's become a four-year starter, he still remembers his time taking shots on the practice squad. But he doesn't get too caught up in the memories, he has bigger goals now.

"I never forget it. That's how I came here and every time I see another walk-on guy on our team and he's kind of struggling I think 'I used to be there,' " Butler said. "I don't really use it now as motivation because I don't think I'll be held to walk-on standards anymore so I really can't use that."

"You feel a sense of pride just from the fact that I earned a scholarship, to the fact that I've been able to start since my redshirt freshman year," Butler said. "It's something that people doubted me and said I wouldn't be able to do, so you just get a sense of pride that you're able to go out there and prove people wrong and I was able to help my team."

Outside his comfort zone

Butler has always been intrigued by the television show 'Crime Scene Investigation.'

During high school he took a test designed to determine what career path he should follow.

The results led Butler to enroll in Penn State's department of Crime, Law and Justice.

After graduating last May, Butler spent three weeks this summer as an intern with the Philadelphia Police Department's Crime Scene Unit.

The experience was pretty graphic, Butler said. He saw in person what most people only see on television. And for Butler, the red stuff wasn't ketchup.

"This was a real-deal internship. From the first scene on you see a body, you see the blood," Butler said. "But I didn't get sick.

"You have to separate yourself from your emotions if you want to do your job. If you get caught up in every case, it'd tear your guts apart."

Butler also said the internship made him take a look at his own life and his living situation at Penn State. He also said it allowed him to see just how lucky he is to be in college.

"We get so caught up in State College, in our little bubble here, we don't really see what happens in the outside world," Butler said. "A lot of these kids at the scenes were my age and younger. Just seeing the stuff that they were doing, drugs and guns and killing each other, was definitely a humbling experience."

Of course Butler can still find ways to equate his off-field passion with his experiences on the gridiron. He said solving a case is kind of like making a game-winning play in football.

But he also points out that the big play relates to a game while solving a case can help someone's life or help families cope.

"This is no game, it's real life," Butler said. "You have a chance to make a difference and put the bad guys away and bring closure to grieving families. I can't imagine many things that could be more important than that."

Topping the ranks

Sometime during the next four games, Butler will find a seam in the secondary, make a cut, turn toward the line of scrimmage and haul in a pass.

It'll be just like the other 164 catches he's made at Penn State, but it'll have much more historical significance. That's because Butler is only four catches away from breaking Bobby Engram's 13-year-old school record for career catches.

Butler currently sits in second place on the list and has already passed such former NFL players like O.J. McDuffie, Bryant Johnson, Kenny Jackson and Joe Jurevicius.

"Just to be in the same sentence with those guys is definitely a blessing. So to be on top of that list is definitely something special, something I can look back on when I leave here," Butler said.

Considering he's hauled in an average of 3.5 passes per game, it's almost a certainty, barring injury or misfortune, that Butler will break the record sometime between now and the end of the year.

He will also finish his career ranked in the top five in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Butler also set the school record for receiving yards in a game with 216 against Northwestern in 2006.

When he breaks the record and leaves Penn State, he said he's sure one of the first things mentioned will be that he came to Happy Valley as a walk-on.

But Butler said he doesn't mind. He's not ashamed of being a former walk-on, in fact he said he's actually proud of the fact that he's earned a scholarship. But he doesn't want his tale as a Lion to simply begin with walk-on and end with a slew of records.

He dreams of a much more satisfying ending to his Penn State biography.

"Obviously they'll write that because that's how it started and it's a fact and it definitely makes the story sound a lot better, a kid that came from really not having a scholarship to being able to accomplish the things I have," Butler said. "But that's just a fact of the story so you can't get mad that they write that in the story."

"But I think I'd much rather be remembered as a guy that was part of an undefeated team that played in the national championship instead of just individual effort."