A knee injury brought LB Paul Posluszny back to Penn State, but not QB Michael Robinson, the Big Ten’s Player of the Year last year. Without Robinson, Anthony Morelli finally gets his chance as the starting quarterback, and he has plenty of options with TB Tony Hunt and sophomore WRs Deon Butler and Derrick Williams. Morelli’s development as a quarterback will go a long way in determining Penn State’s success this year.

To take the pressure off Morelli, expect to see a lot of Hunt (1,047 yards rushing, six touchdowns last year). Robinson was just as dangerous running as he was throwing, but Morelli is better off staying in the pocket and letting Hunt pick up all the yards on the ground.

“Each player you have is different,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said of Morelli. “You must give the team or the player a specific scheme to fit their strengths. We had Michael Robinson who was great in that scheme as well as some young players who gave us a new dimension.

“But the offense really won't change as much as you think because Anthony runs better than people give him credit for. It depends on what defenses decide to do.”

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: WR Derrick Williams returns after a broken wrist prematurely ended his season last year. Before the injury, he was one of the best freshmen in the country. Expect the Nittany Lions to line him up in various places to try and create mismatches. Anthony Morelli is the quarterback; he'll be protected by 6-5 LT Levi Brown, one of the best around.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: LB Paul Posluszny didn’t need surgery following his knee injury in the Orange Bowl, but it was significant enough to eliminate any real thoughts he had of the NFL. Now he’s back to anchor a LB corps that includes junior Dan Connor and fifth-year senior Tim Shaw. The linebackers will be the strength of the defense. Many of the rest of the jobs are still up for grabs.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “They’ve done everything we've asked them to do. They've been a good bunch of kids to coach, and when they've been on the field they've worked hard. Whether we've given them the right things to work on or not, or whether we've got this thing paced out right, I wish I could tell you. I won't know until we play." --Penn State coach Joe Paterno on all the new faces he sees on offense and defense.

THIS WEEK'S GAME: Akron at Penn State, Sept. 2 -- The defending Big Ten champion against the defending Mid-American conference champion. Penn State has plenty of faces to replace, beginning with QB Michael Robinson, the Big Ten MVP last season. Robinson was the X-factor in the offense, someone who had to be accounted for both throwing and running the ball. New starter Anthony Morelli isn’t quite as elusive, but he was one of the most highly-touted recruits coming out of high school three years ago. Since then, he’s thrown a total of 33 passes while waiting behind Robinson and Zack Mills. Defensively, Paul Posluszny and the linebackers will have plenty of work to do, since the defense must find a way to replace defensive end Tamba Hali and defensive tackle Scott Paxson, who served as a nice plug in the middle of the defense. The Zips won the MAC last year on the arm of quarterback Luke Getsy, a western Pennsylvania product who threw for 3,455 yards last year as football was reborn in Akron.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: LB Paul Posluszny -- He won the Butkus last year as the nation’s best linebacker and don’t be surprised if he does it again. He finished with 116 tackles last year, and by the time he’s through, he very well could be the best linebacker to come out of Linebacker U.

WR Derrick Williams -- His season ended after seven games because of a broken wrist, but he did enough in those first seven games to live up to the hype as the nation’s top recruit last year. Williams lined up as a flanker, slot, tailback and return man last year. Expect more of the same.

WR Deon Butler -- After Williams’ injury, Butler finished the year as the team leader with 37 catches for 691 yards and nine touchdowns. He broke four freshman marks, including receptions, yards, touchdowns and yards in a game (125 vs. Wisconsin).

RB Tony Hunt -- His 1,047 yards last year make him the 10th running back in school history to rush for 1,000 yards. He is less than 1,100 yards away from becoming the fifth running back to reach 3,000 yards for a career.

ROSTER REPORT: Matt Hahn replaces senior BranDon Snow, who will miss the first few games (disciplinary reasons).

--Junior John Shaw beat out junior Chris Auletta for the starting job at right tackle.

--Sophomore Gerald Cadogan won the job at left guard, while A.Q. Shipley won the job at center and fifth-year senior Robert Price won the job at right guard outright.