Jay Paterno walked into the media room following Saturday's Blue-White game and patiently bided his time.
Pat Devlin, one of the quarterbacks jockeying to be Penn State's starter in the fall, was in the middle of fielding questions when his quarterbacks coach entered the room. Not wanting to steal the spotlight from Devlin, Paterno asked media to wait to question him until Devlin finished.
So he waited.
Daryll Clark, the other viable candidate to be Anthony Morelli's successor, walked into the room minutes later. Jay Paterno put his hands in his face and sighed.
"Daryll, can you give me two minutes?" he pleaded.
Clark obliged, but neither Paterno nor anyone else was in any hurry to appoint the next Penn State starting quarterback.
If the final score matters, the record books will show the Blue team walked away with a 27-14 win before an estimated 73,000 fans, the most to ever see this glorified practice. If the crowd wanted to know who will run out of the tunnel as the starting quarterback when the season begins Aug. 30 against Coastal Carolina, it will have to wait.
All involved were non-committal about who has an upper hand, much less who the starter will be.
Clark, perceived to be in the mold of 2005 quarterback Michael Robinson as a run-first signal caller, showed he can throw the ball, too. Devlin, considered a pure passer largely due to setting Pennsylvania's state record for career passing yardage, maintained he can run when given a chance.
"If you had said to me we've got to start tomorrow, I don't know," Joe Paterno said. "I'm not sure what I'd do. You have to put the whole puzzle together."
Clark operated with the Blue team, the first-string offense, against the second-team defense. He finished the afternoon 9-of-16 for 106 yards and two touchdowns, often looking poised in the pocket.
Clark threw a bullet to Derrick Williams that went for a 33-yard touchdown on a fly pattern, and he also zipped a 7-yard out that showed precision to another receiver.
"One of my goals today was to at least prove a little bit that I'm not just a runner," Clark said. "I think I got that done."
Devlin, who admitted to feeling slighted by the perception he's immobile, could do little to dispel those beliefs in a game where quarterbacks wore red jerseys to guard against hits. He worked primarily with the second-team offense against the first-team defense, but also saw action with the first-team offense.
Combined, he finished 12-of-18 for 122 yards and a touchdown.
"We get a pretty big kick out of it," Devlin said of the attention focused on the quarterback spot. "It's kind of funny sometimes. Jay always jokes, every little thing, they're gonna critique you. When you walk by me and didn't say 'Hi,' is there anything?"
Both Paternos left open the possibility of a two-quarterback system, which Penn State hasn't turned to since 1998 with Kevin Thompson and Rashard Casey.
"This thing isn't all black and white like you think it is," Joe Paterno said.
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