STATE COLLEGE — Joe Paterno will start another milestone season where he's spent most of the past six decades: on the Penn State sideline.

The 82-year-old Hall-of-Fame coach has said all offseason that he'll return to the field following surgery last November to fix a balky hip that kept him in the press box for most of the 2008 season.

He's on target with four days to go until the No. 9 Nittany Lions' season opener against Akron — just don't expect him to bolt out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel.

"I don't know whether I'll be able to run on the field. I'm trying to do a little jogging out there on the practice field, but (doctors) get a little nervous sometimes because they still want me to be careful about the hip," Paterno said Tuesday.

Everything else OK, though?

"I've had absolutely no problems, going out there, going from drill to drill," he added. "I'm looking forward to getting back on the sideline."