Injured Paterno watches practice from a golf cart

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - They chauffeured Joe Paterno into his Penn State media day news conference on a golf cart, then tried to position the cart in such a way where the press, including at least 30 photographers and TV camera people, could get a good look at him.

He looked pretty good.

Nine days after he was accidentally knocked down by wide receiver Devon Smith while his attention was diverted to a tackle-tight end drill on another practice field, the 84-year-old head coach remained in the cart for Tuesday's entire 20-minute session, admitting at one point, "I feel great except that I'm in a lot of pain."

Paterno suffered injuries to his right shoulder and right hip but denied that he had any hairline fractures as was initially reported. He said doctors thought they saw "some cracks" in the first round of X-rays right after the accident, but that they took more pictures four or five days later and saw nothing. Still, Paterno continues to watch preseason practice in the cart.

Naturally, when asked if he was getting too old to face the risk of getting knocked down by kids who were born after he became eligible for Social Security, he pooh-poohed the idea.

"You've got to remember, I've been able to keep a [veteran] staff," he said in a corner of Holuba Hall, the team's indoor practice facility. "I've got different guys doing different things. I tell them what I want to get done on the practice field. I keep talking to them about personnel. Thank God we have things like conference calls and all that kind of stuff.

"So there's no need to get out of it yet. Let's wait and see if I can get the job done. Right now, I'm anxious just to get back [on my feet] and get going."

Defensive end Jack Crawford said he saw the 5-foot-7, 155-pound Smith bang into Paterno that day on the practice field and shuddered at the memory.

"It was pretty bad; that would have hurt me," the 6-foot-5, 273-pound senior from Longport, N.J., said.

"He was down for a little bit and then he got up and walked around. I could tell he was hurt because he was moving his shoulder. But he looked like he was in pretty good form right after it."

Smith, a junior and arguably the fastest player on the team, said the accident "was something me and him couldn't avoid.

"I was doing a corner route, had my eyes on the ball," he said. "He had his eyes on his sheet, writing down notes. It was something I couldn't avoid. We just collided. It wasn't purposely. It was an accident. He got up, showing what a strong person Joe is."

Paterno said it reminded him of another on-field accident in 1975, when receiver Tom Bradley, now the Nittany Lions defensive coordinator, ran into him. But he saw him coming and was able to prepare for a collision, not the same case as on Aug. 7.

"I was off the field writing some notes," he said. "The kid was running after the ball full-speed and he caught the football full-speed and ran right into me. I didn't see him so I didn't take the fall in a good way. Physically I feel great. Outside of that, it hurts.

"If I told you I can get up and run around, I can't. But in about eight or nine days I should be OK, instead of having some guy drive me around and telling him where to park it."

Paterno fully expects to be on the sideline for the Nittany Lions Sept. 3 season opener against Indiana State at Beaver Stadium.

"Absolutely," he said.

Crawford won't be surprised.

"I guess it's that Italian-Brooklyn thing going on," he said.

Staff writer Jake Kaplan contributed to this article.