Blue White Illustrated

top running back, and after a strong showing in the Blue-White Game and a wrist injury to starter Zach Zwinak, the redshirt freshman – known by Coach Bill O'Brien and some teammates as "Big Maple" in tribute to his Canadian roots – is expected to be in the mix at tailback next season. "I thought he ran hard," O'Brien said after the Blue-White Game. "I'm always stressing for him to get his pads down, to run with his pads out over his toes. He's a great guy, man. … I'm really glad he's on our team." Lynch seems to be equally glad. "I'm just happy I'm finally playing in Beaver Stadium," he said. "Actually coming out and finally getting a grass stain on my jersey rather than sitting on the sideline. It's just a dream come true. It's all smiles." He didn't mean that metaphorically. Asked after the Blue-White Game about finally getting to play in front of Penn State fans, he smiled. Asked about playing on the scout team last season, he smiled. (And turned up the wattage as he talked about how much fun he had during Wisconsin week, when he got to play the role of Montee Ball.) Asked about his favorite play of the spring game, he gushed about how cool it was to see backup fullback Dom Salamone carry 10 times. And, of course, he smiled. Said his mom, "I'm telling you, this kid is so lucky. He's the luckiest kid on earth." Growing up, as Lynch improved at football, he realized he might have a chance to play in Division I. He also realized he was probably going to need WEST COAST OFFENSE Tyler Ferguson puts himself in position to vie for starting quarterback spot | f he'd known it was going to snow during his first spring game at Penn State, maybe Tyler Ferguson wouldn't have been quite so eager to sign with the Nittany Lions. Ferguson is surely unaccustomed to freak April snow squalls of the sort that hit Beaver Stadium on April 20 during the first quarter of the Blue-White Game. Or snow squalls in general. The guy comes from Bakersfield, Calif., after all, a city located near the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, where the average high temperature in April is 75 degrees. The quarterback's acclimation process was a hot topic following Penn State's annual spring scrimmage. In fact, it was one of the few aspects of the game that could accurately be described as "hot." The weather certainly wasn't, with temperatures never getting out of the 40s. And if the game day conditions were an unpleasant surprise to players and fans, they likely hit Fergu- I son harder still, since he's only been on campus since January. "I know how tough it is," said Ty Howle, a senior center from the warmer climes of North Carolina. "And I'm only eight hours away [by car]. He's an eight-hour plane ride away." The spring game was the first public appearance by Ferguson in Beaver Stadium. He arrived on campus less than four months ago as a sophomore transfer from College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif. The game certainly didn't appear to be a decisive moment in the battle for the team's vacant starting quarterback position. It was won by the defense, 67-47, using a scoring system that even the Nittany Lions' resident math wiz John Urschel might have had trouble explaining, and as far as the quarterbacks were concerned, it looked to be thoroughly inconclusive. Consider the final stats: Ferguson completed 9 of 15 passes for 90 yards. His rival for the starting position, sophomore Steven Bench, completed 9 of 15 for 99 yards. Ferguson threw two touchdown passes. Bench threw one. Coming out of spring practice, Penn State's quarterback battle was cloaked in even more mystery than last year's battle. O'Brien let the 2012 competition play out over the spring, then spent time evaluating the practice films before naming Matt McGloin the starter over Paul Jones and Rob Bolden at the beginning of the summer. This year, all the evidence on display in the team's open practices and in the spring game seemed to point to a dead heat. But there was plenty of consequential activity taking place inside the Lasch Building, and it reached a crescendo on April 24 when Bench re-

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