D'Anton Lynn never wore his father's Denver Broncos' jersey to school.

He wasn't embarrassed. He liked football so much he asked to skip school to work with his dad in Jacksonville and Dallas.

But Lynn, Penn State's sophomore cornerback, never liked the limelight of being the son of a two-time Super Bowl winning running back.

"I don't like walking around telling people my dad played football, making fake friends," Lynn said. "I just don't really like bragging about it or letting other people know."

The cutthroat culture his father experienced in the NFL made it hard for Lynn to settle down and build friendships.

Lynn moved from Texas to Denver to San Francisco, back to Denver, over to Jacksonville and back to Texas all before he was a sophomore in high school.

His first girlfriend came in 11th grade, when he knew he wouldn't have to pack up and leave her. Lynn's father, Anthony, kept his family in Texas while he took a coaching job with the Cleveland Browns so D'Anton could finish high school.

"I definitely got a lot of attention," Lynn said. "I didn't like it. I'm the type of person, I don't like a lot of attention on me. I tried to keep it secret, but it always got out."

Now, Lynn is starting to gain more attention, not for being the son of the current New York Jets' running backs coach, but for emerging as one of the Nittany Lions' most promising cornerbacks with instinctive coverage skills and a work ethic to match the NFL players he grew up around.

"He comes to me, asks me little stuff like footwork," senior cornerback A.J. Wallace said. "I don't know if he goes after like practice and does it, but I know he comes out the next day and he fixed whatever problem he has, so he's definitely a hard worker. He's a perfectionist."

Saturday, Lynn and the Penn State secondary will square off with perhaps its most difficult test in Illinois wide receiver Arrelious "Rejus" Benn split wide on one side with Florida-transfer Jarred Fayson also on the flank.

Lynn preps for games by looking at the formation and reading the receiver splits. That way, he's not going to be on his toes and he can anticipate better.

His eyes widened and flashed a smile when asked if he wants to cover Benn.

"Oh yeah," Lynn said.

"He reminds me of Hines Ward, [Anquan] Boldin from the [Arizona] Cardinals," he said of Benn. "He's a great blocker. That's gonna be a challenge for us because we haven't faced a receiver that block like him yet especially with how much Illinois runs the ball."

Lynn may have never gotten a chance to face Benn if it wasn't for teammate Ryan Scherer.

Scherer's father, Rip, coached with Lynn's father in Cleveland, and Ryan encouraged D'Anton to join him at Penn State's football camp.

Taking in the Lions' 31-10 win against Notre Dame in 2007 from the sidelines, Lynn saw football in State College was as big a deal as high school ball in Texas.

"Distance was big with me," said Lynn, who chose Penn State over Texas Tech and Oklahoma. "I tried to act like it wasn't . When coach [Brian] Norwood left, I opened my recruitment back up just because I really wanted to take a step back and really make sure I was ready to be so far away from home."

He may have doubts about where he wanted to play football, but it's clear he feels the sport is his calling in life.

When his playing career is finished, Lynn wants to get into coaching and eventually become a head coach in the NFL.

If that happens, it'll be his second go-around in an NFL training camp. Starting as a sixth grader, he helped out at the Denver Broncos' and Jacksonville Jaguars' camp in the summer when his dad was with those organizations.

It was there he observed Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, who watched Lynn quarterback his team to wins over his son's team in the championship youth league game each year from second grade sixth grade.

"It was him, and Terrell Davis was there too," Lynn said. "That was the best quarterback and best tailback in the NFL at that time. So to get a chance to watch them, how they worked, how they prepared themselves for practice, for games, seeing how much you had to study, that's little stuff I picked up growing up that I use now."

He's proven it week after week as a full-time starter.

Lynn's name is rarely mentioned over the Beaver Stadium loudspeaker, meaning quarterbacks are looking elsewhere when trying to move the football up field.

"I work hard," Lynn said. "I love hitting, and I'm just a real competitive person. I'll do anything to win."