The Nittany Lions compiled a 26-33 record from 2000 through 2004, posting only one winning season and playing in one bowl. The job security of legendary coach Joe Paterno was growing more and more unsteady.

But the freshmen showed up anyway.

"All of us came into a situation where Penn State hadn't been winning for years," Lee said the other day. "Coming in, we didn't know what kind of season we'd have."

With quarterback Michael Robinson engineering the offense and linebacker Paul Posluszny leading the defense, Saturdays became brighter. Lee was one of few freshmen to play, usually on special teams. Most others redshirted but learned from the upperclassmen ahead of them.

"That year was very special," Lee said. "We exploded back on the scene. There were so many leaders on that team and that leadership passed down to us. We were determined to turn this around. There was no option."

The Lions went 10-1 in the regular season, won the Big Ten championship, defeated Florida State in the Orange Bowl and finished No. 3 in the final national rankings.

The redshirts suited up the following season and continued the turnaround. Counting 2005, the Lions have gone 48-13 in the last five seasons.

Tomorrow, 12 fifth-year seniors from that freshman Class of 2005 - eight who were on scholarship their first year and four who walked on - will perform on the lush grass of Beaver Stadium for the final time when the 19th-ranked Nittany Lions meet Indiana on Senior Day. Two other fifth-year seniors arrived as transfers.

"It's been a good group of kids," Paterno said. "They came in 2005 when we were struggling a little bit, but they had confidence in Penn State, Penn State football and the coaching staff. They've had five good years. I hope they go out feeling good about themselves."

Lee, the only remaining Lion who played in that Orange Bowl, sat out last year after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee at spring practice in 2008. He missed three games earlier this season with a sprained left knee but gradually has gotten stronger each week.

"It's definitely going to be emotional being that I've had so many great memories playing at Beaver Stadium," Lee said of his last home game. "It's going to be tough for me and a lot of the older guys."

For defensive end Jerome Hayes, the day is particularly gratifying. Hayes missed 17 games the last two seasons after first tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in 2007, then the ACL in his left knee in 2008.

"That first year we were able to find out what college football was all about," Hayes said. "Fortunately, we came in at a time when they had guys like Michael Robinson, Levi Brown, Calvin Lowry, Anwar Phillips, Alan Zemaitis. They gave us the blueprint for how college football is supposed to be played.

"Being through two injuries, all the hard work, all the memories, I'm sure it's going to be very emotional."

The emotions figure to be the same for quarterback Daryll Clark, who had to go to prep school after high school to earn the grades to gain admittance, and linebacker Josh Hull, who walked on to the team as a 205-pound freshman from nearby Penns Valley High.

They may have fallen short of competing for a national championship, but they know they were part of a rebirth in Happy Valley.