STATE COLLEGE — Anticipating a zinger of a first question at preseason media day, Joe Paterno let loose with a line intended to dispel rumors about his health.

At age 83, entering his record 45th season as Penn State 's head coach, the Hall of Famer can still charm a room.

"I have one request," he said Thursday before anyone could fire off a query. "Please, don't ask if I'm going to die. Believe me, I got a few more days left."

He just couldn't dance around the other inevitable topic of the day.

No, the Nittany Lions still haven't settled on a starting quarterback.

"I know you think I'm avoiding the question on this one, but I really don't know who's going to be the quarterback," Paterno said.

One week into practice, and the race between sophomores Kevin Newsome and Matt McGloin to replace record-setting QB Daryll Clark is still apparently at a dead heat. And freshmen Robert Bolden and Paul Jones apparently aren't out of the mix, either, according to quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, the head coach's son.

The competition could be thinned out some over the coming weeks as the Nittany Lions start working on more specifics with the spread HD offense.

"We're trying to put them in situations where they have to make some things happen, do some things in the clutch," the elder Paterno said. "Get some confidence, get the football team to have some confidence, so they can get in the huddle and say to the team, 'Hey, let's go."'

Newsome, highly recruited out of high school, could be considered the front-runner by virtue of being second string to Clark last season, ahead of McGloin, a former walk-on.

Newsome wears the same No. 12 jersey worn by dual-threat QB star Michael Robinson in 2005, and he's considered more athletic than McGloin, who, in turn, is thought to have a little more of a pocket presence.

Both players say they aren't taking anything for granted. So far, first-string reps have been distributed evenly among the quarterbacks, McGloin said.

Newsome might have had the best response when asked what was needed to do win the job.

"I don't know," he said with a grin. "You can ask the greatest coach in college football that question."

"Paul, Robert, McGloin, all those guys, they are really good quarterbacks, and it's going to be real tough to beat them out," he later said.

It's been a painful start to camp so far for other players, the biggest injury coming to Curtis Drake, the Philadelphia native who broke his left leg in practice this week and is expected to be out at least six to eight weeks.

The sophomore played every game last year as a reserve, catching eight passes for 98 yards.