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Notre Dame," Bove said. "You're always looking for two quarterbacks, and through Phil Grosz's list, I identified Wally." Richardson was a senior in 1991, and the G&W Report and two other services cited him as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country. "He wasn't such a dual- threat as a runner as Rashard Casey was down the line," Grosz said, "but the de- marcation between pro-style and dual- threat was developing when Wally was recruited." Paterno planned to redshirt Richardson in 1992. After spring practice, Paterno tabbed redshirt sophomore Kerry Collins as his starter, with redshirt sophomore John Sacca as his backup. But that plan went awry in the summer when Collins injured the index finger on his throwing hand, reportedly during a volleyball game at a family reunion. Sacca moved into the starting role, and Paterno had junior place kicker Craig Fayak practice as an emergency backup. Although Penn State was ranked in the top 10 of most preseason polls, its bowl destination already had been set. The Lions would be going to the Blockbuster Bowl in Fort Lauderdale. They were play- ing their last season as an Eastern inde- pendent prior to entering the Big Ten and were excluded from a new ersatz playoff system called the Bowl Coalition. The opening game at Cincinnati's remodeled Nippert Stadium was a bad omen. A heavy lightning storm preceding the game had drenched the fans but not damaged the turf field. Penn State had walloped Cincinnati, 81-0, in 1991 at Beaver Sta- dium and was a solid favorite to win in '92. Cincinnati shocked the visitors on the opening kickoff with a 69-yard touch- down return, but the Lions had tied it up, 7-7, by the end of the first quarter. Midway through the second quarter, Sacca went down with a severe collarbone injury. Pa- terno sent Richardson onto the field. "I didn't have any expectations of play- ing in the game," Richardson said. "I had been on campus just three and a half weeks and I thought I was just going on a trip. I had never played on turf before in my life in a game-type situation, plus it was wet." Paterno and Ganter stripped the game plan to the bare essentials. Richardson did well, leading the Lions on two time-con- suming touchdown drives of 64 yards. A blocked punt by Cincinnati in the fourth quarter set up an 8-yard touchdown, and a 71-yard scoring drive in the last minutes narrowed Lions' winning margin to four points, 24-20. "I threw 10 passes and completed five of them for [35] yards and we got out of there with a win," Richard- son said. "It was a very eye-opening ex- perience." In Penn State's home opener the fol- lowing week against Temple, Richardson hit 10 of 19 pass attempts and threw for a touchdown in a 49-8 rout. Sacca was back the next week, and Richardson's playing time diminished. Collins re- turned in the seventh game of the season, with Richardson the mop-up man for the PSU'S PROMINENT SOUTHEASTERN RECRUITS (1982-2011) SOUTH CAROLINA YEARS NAME HOMETOWN POS LETTERED Ray Roundtree Aiken WR 1986-87 Ivory Gethers St. Johns Island LB 1989-92 Shelly Hammonds Barnwell DB 1990-93 Bobby Engram Camden WR 1991-95 Cli> Dingle Bonneau DB 1992-94 Wally Richardson Sumter QB 1992, 1994-96 Chris Mazyck Hopkins DL 1993-94 Courtney Brown Moncks Corner DE 1996-99 Rodney Kinlaw Goose Creek RB 2006-07 Kinta Palmer Kitfield WR 2003 FLORIDA Nick Gancitano Coral Gables PK 1982-84 Tim Johnson Sarasota DT 1983-86 Michael Timpson Miami WR/KR 1985-88 Willie Thomas Lauderdale Lakes DB 1987-90 David Daniels Sarasota SE 1988-90 Richard McKenzie Lauderdale Lakes LB 1989-92 Willie Smith Fort Pierce LB 1991-94 Jason Henderson Satellite Beach OL 1994, 1996 John Wilson Ormond Beach OT 2004-05 NORTH CAROLINA Sam Gash Hendersonville FB 1988-91 Cuncho Brown Winston-Salem TE 1995-98 Titcus Pettigrew Winston-Salem DB 1997-98, 2000 Shamar Finney Shelby LB 1999-2001 E.Z. Smith Concord C 2000, 2002-05 Calvin Lowry Fayetteville Saf./PR 2002-05 Kevion Latham Greensboro DE 2009-10 Quinn Barham Durham OT 2010-11 OTHER ACC/SEC RECRUITS Kevin Woods Birmingham, Ala. RB/DB 1987 Leroy Thompson East Knoxville, Tenn. RB 1987-90 Brett Conway Lilburn, Ga. PK 1993-96 Patrick Hall Conway, Ga. DE 2004-06 Michael Mauti Mandeville, La. LB 2008, 2010-12 S O U T H C A R O L I N A F L O R I D A N O R T H C A R O L I N A O T H E R S T A T E S

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