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Bolden to start Penn State's opener

Sophomore Rob Bolden will be the starting quarterback for Penn State in the team's season opener Saturday against Indiana State, a source said on Friday.

Sophomore Rob Bolden will be the starting quarterback for Penn State in the team's season opener Saturday against Indiana State, a source said Friday.

Coach Joe Paterno said at his Tuesday teleconference, and also Thursday on the weekly Penn State radio show, that both Bolden and redshirt junior Matt McGloin would split time in the game as equally as possible.

"We have two good quarterbacks," Paterno said Thursday. "They both had a good spring practice, worked hard this summer with the kids who hung around, and in pre-season practice they've been really good. They're both going to play, which is unusual for me. I don't think (playing time) has a bearing on how the other guy plays."

The decision to start Bolden, which was first reported late Thursday night by Lions247.com, answered -- at least for now -- a question that has hung over the Nittany Lions since the end of last season.

And, of course, the bigger decision on a starting quarterback will be made next week when the Lions welcome No. 2 Alabama to Beaver Stadium. So it's safe to say a good performance against Indiana State, an FCS team, would give one of the two candidates a leg up for the next game.

Bolden started the opener last year against Youngstown State as a true freshman, and the next six games after that. After he suffered a concussion against Minnesota, McGloin took over and led the Lions to a win over the Golden Gophers.

Bolden started just one game after coming back from his injury, on Nov. 4 against Northwestern, and played only two series before he was replaced by McGloin. McGloin took nearly all the snaps the rest of the season, including every one in the Outback Bowl where he threw five interceptions in a loss to Florida.

For the season, Bolden completed 58 percent of his passes for 1,360 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 118.52. McGloin had 22 more pass attempts than Bolden, hitting on 54.9 percent of them for 1,548 yards, 14 TDs, and nine picks, for a rating of 128.48.

Unhappy with his lack of playing time late in the season after opening the season as the starter, Bolden asked Paterno to release his scholarship the week after the bowl game so he could transfer. Paterno denied Bolden's request and urged the quarterback to compete in spring practice for the starting job.

Bolden did not say for sure after the Blue-White Game in the spring that he would be back for the start of pre-season practice last month, but he showed up and split reps with McGloin for the entire camp, and during the current week of practice for Indiana State.

--Jake Kaplan