Paul Sokoloski Column

Monday, September 20, 2010

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Rookie flings hope into PSU attack paul sokoloski opinion

Sunday September 05, 2010 | 01:00 AM

Paul Sokoloski psokoloski@timesleader.com

The first sign of all the promise Rob Bolden brings to Penn State’s football team came on an incomplete pass.

He went deep for Devon Smith running down the left sideline, missing by just a fraction with a breath-taking dart of a throw.

And right there, Penn State knew it had its quarterback.

Bolden will have rougher days than the one he played Saturday, a crisp 239-yard passing performance in his first career college start against FCS school Youngstown State.

He might get roughed up playing at hard-charging Alabama next week.

But for better or for worse, the Nittany Lions should stick with him as their starting quarterback.

Because Bolden brings to the huddle what the other quarterbacks on the team don’t.

He gives Penn State hope.

“The reason we picked him to play quarterback,” Penn State wide receiver Brett Brackett said, “is we have confidence in him.”

It’s not hard to understand why.

From the time he walked onto Penn State’s campus ranked as the nation’s fourth-best quarterback out of St. Mary’s Prep in Orchard Lake, Mich., in May, Bolden has been the savior of a messy quarterback situation for the Lions.

After what they saw in the Blue-White game this spring, Penn State fans would rather take a pass on watching either Kevin Newsome or former West Scranton standout Matt McGloin play the position.

But Bolden did more to raise expectations during his first day on the job than the other Lions quarterbacks combined.

He danced away from dangerous pass rushes. He turned his team away from trouble. He tossed two touchdowns.

Bolden hit 20 of his 29 passes and threw a 20-yard scoring strike to Brackett to give sluggish Penn State a lead before halftime. And he fired completions of 23 yards to Justin Brown and 27 more to Smith while sparking the last of eight scoring drives in Penn State’s season-opening 44-14 victory.

“He did what he was supposed to do,” Penn State wide receiver Derek Moye said. “He came in, handled his business, showed everybody what he can do.”

He showed his teammates long before Saturday.

Throughout the preseason, they were wowed by Bolden’s presence, his poise, his precision passes.

“When he’s in the huddle, he demands quiet,” Brackett said. “We had a really good feeling about him.”

So the Lions barely batted an eye when Bolden became the first true freshman longtime and legendary coach Joe Paterno’s ever selected to begin a season as his starting quarterback.

“He came in here expecting to compete and expecting to start,” Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said of Bolden.

“It wasn’t like he won ‘American Idol’ and said, ‘Oh my gosh!’ “

Yet, even Penn State’s offense appeared thrilled by the way Bolden took control of his collegiate debut.

“Above and beyond what we expected, with his poise and confidence,” Brackett said.

Why mess with that?

Joe Paterno, perhaps trying to downplay his innovative decision, suggested Bolden might not be his starting quarterback for the whole season.

“We’re going to play week by week, practice by practice,” the veteran coach said. “Whether that means we’ll have one quarterback all year or three alternating, I don’t know.”

“Nothing,” Jay Paterno added, “is set in stone.”

Then set it. Mold the cast around Bolden, a kid with enough talent to make Penn State look like a legitimate contender for the Big Ten title. Because without him behind center, those championship hopes just look moldy.