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re-equipped according to Craig Fitzgerald���s specifications, the Lions have had all the necessary free weights and other strength-training gear at their disposal for the duration of the workouts. Players have now had a full year of training in Fitzgerald���s weight room and they know his routines and expectations. ���Everyone���s gotten faster and stronger,��� offensive tackle Garry Gilliam said. ���If you compare where we were last year to this year, it���s huge. Everyone���s a lot stronger. And we know the offense, too. That���s going to be a big factor. Coach O���Brien can open the playbook up and put some more plays in. I���m looking forward to it.��� With Penn State ineligible for the postseason, players were able to put in some extra conditioning following the end of the 2012 season. Those sessions definitely seem to have made a significant difference for a number of players. Safety Malcolm Willis looked rock solid during the weightlifting session that Penn State opened to the media on Feb. 8, and he wasn���t the only one sporting an impressively chiseled physique. Tailback Zach Zwinak looked stronger than ever as he did pushups with two 45-pound plates balanced between his shoulder blades. The offensive linemen look to have been big beneficiaries of Fitzgerald���s weight program, as well. Since moving from tight end to tackle, Gilliam has added about 20 pounds and says that even with the extra weight he���s faster than he was last year. He���ll be vying for one of two vacancies on the starting five this fall, and you get the feeling that the growing pains aren���t going to be as severe as they were in previous years. And then there���s Robinson, one of the team���s most enthusiastic weightlifters during winter workouts. The Big Ten���s leading receiver last season, Robinson looks like he���s physically ready for the NFL. He���s put on about 10 pounds of muscle since the end of his sophomore year and now stands 6-foot-3, 209 pounds. That should make a big difference this fall as he looks to follow up a marvelous season in which he finished with a schoolrecord 77 catches for 1,013 yards. 2 Who will be the breakout stars this spring? It will certainly be interesting to see who starts at quarterback in the spring game (assuming Penn State uses the offense-vs.-defense format that it adopted last year). Steven Bench is the only returning player at the position, but there���s been some buzz building around Tyler Ferguson, the sophomore-eligible juco transfer from Bakersfield, Calif., who enrolled in January. ���He���s a player,��� Robinson said. ���Coach O���Brien is definitely great with recruiting, so he knew what he was bringing in. [Ferguson] was a guy who wanted to come in here and compete. He���s from California, and he wouldn���t have come all this way if he wasn���t going to compete.��� The Lions also will have a couple of invited run-ons in camp this spring in Austin Whipple and D.J. Crook. In June those players will be joined by Hackenberg, a five-star prospect, and another run-on, Jack Seymour. While Robinson talked up Ferguson, he wasn���t interested in handicapping the race for the starting spot ��� a race that will enter a new, more intense phase once spring practice begins. ���One thing I can say about all the QBs is that they���re working their butts off,��� he said. ���They���re getting their nose in the playbook, they���re getting their reps. We have a good group of guys who will compete going into spring ball and going into camp. And we have another good quarterback coming here this summer, so it should be exciting to see.��� Added Gilliam, ���I have no doubt that Coach O���Brien is going to get the guy he wants in there and develop him the way he needs to be developed. I have no worries there.��� While all eyes will be on the quarterbacks this spring in the hope that O���Brien and assistant coach Charlie Fisher can do for those guys what they did for Matt McGloin last season, team members are also optimistic about the guys up front. One player who has definitely made a big impression is sophomore tackle Donovan Smith. That really isn���t much of a surprise. Smith made nine starts at left tackle for the Nittany Lions as a redshirt freshman last fall and figures to be even more effective as a sophomore. Guard John Urschel said recently that Smith has more physical ability than any lineman he���s seen in his time at Penn State, including Stefen Wisniewski, who two years ago was taken in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders. ���The guy is just a great physical specimen,��� Urschel said. ���The guy is huge, he���s got long arms, he���s tall. If you look at his legs, they���re like tree trunks. But at the same time, he���s an athletic kid. He can move, he can get out of his stance. He���s quick, he���s agile. I think he���s going to be a heck of a football player for us, and he���s got a lot of years left. ���With all that talent, the sky���s the limit for him. As hard as he wants to work, that would be the limit for him. And let me tell you, he���s really stepped his game up. He���s a hard worker, he���s in the weight room, trying to get better on the field, in drills, watching film. He���s really made a commitment to being a great football player, and I think we���ll see the results this fall.��� The Nittany Lions will have five members of their most recent recruiting class on the field this spring: Ferguson, receiver/running back Richy Anderson, tight end Adam Breneman and defensive backs Anthony Smith and Jordan Smith. Breneman is still recovering from knee surgery but hopes he will have a chance to play this coming fall. 3 Anybody missing this spring? Curtis Dukes, we hardly knew ye. The reserve tailback left the team after receiving only 26 carries last season despite a string of injuries that chipped away at Penn State���s depth in the backfield. Dukes had expected to see more action after finishing third on the team in rushing in 2011, but he reportedly had trouble picking up the new offense and grumbled publicly at midseason about his diminished role. He had made no secret of the fact

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