Ursuline’s Clark hoping to earn QB job in spring

The senior seems to have the inside track at Penn State.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State fans typically don’t give reserves much thought in the spring — unless they happen to be backup quarterbacks, who receive nearly as much attention as the starter.

This spring, however, there is no clear-cut starter in Happy Valley. Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin have shared the first-team practice repetitions for Penn State, which finishes spring drills with Saturday’s Blue-White scrimmage.

If history is an indication, Clark, a 6-foot-2, 230-pounder from Youngstown, currently has a slight edge. Clark, who will be a senior this fall, is older and more experienced than Devlin, who will be a redshirt sophomore.

Head coach Joe Paterno, who said last month he wished he would have played Clark more last season, typically prefers to put veterans under center.

But aside from a short appearance in relief of an injured Anthony Morelli in the 2006 game against Michigan — a game Clark left with an injury — Clark’s only meaningful game action came last December in the Alamo Bowl, when he ran for 50 yards on six carries to help lift Penn State to a 24-17 defeat of Texas A M.

“Obviously I want to be the guy,” Clark said.

“I’m not gonna sit here and say something otherwise. All I can do is what I’m told.”

Devlin, a 6-foot-4, 224-pounder from Downingtown, holds the Pennsylvania high school career record for passing yardage. He redshirted the 2006 season and has thrown only one pass in a Penn State game.

“We both have been playing real well this spring,” Devlin said. “It’s going to come down to who makes the right reads and does the right things with the football.”

Both quarterbacks are hoping to prove their respective stereotypes wrong.

The perception among some fans is that Clark isn’t as good with his arm as with his legs, and that Devlin can pass but can’t run.

Clark, who has impressed teammates and coaches with his improved accuracy this spring, argues that he simply hasn’t been asked to throw much in his limited game action.

“I’m a passer before a runner,” he insists.

Devlin chuckled at the question.

“Daryll can throw the ball and I can run the ball a little bit,” Devlin said. “I’ve never said I was a track star or anything.”

Whichever quarterback emerges as the starter will have the help of a veteran offensive line that returns all five starters from last season, as well senior wide receivers Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams, who will all start for the fourth straight season.

“We’ll be watching film and they’ll point out something small that I wouldn’t have picked up before,” Devlin said of the wideouts.

Clark and Devlin, who were workout partners this winter, also spend a lot of time together in the film room.

“We just feed off of one another,” Clark said.

“We’re competing but we’re helping each other at the same time.”