STATE COLLEGE — John Urschel has been labeled many things by the Penn State Nittany Lions. Some call him a genius with a mean streak. Others simply know him as a burly offensive lineman working on a second master’s degree in math.

And now, maybe more important to the team overall, the soft-spoken guard has emerged as an unlikely — but ideal — leader in Happy Valley as Penn State opens preseason camp.

All in a day’s work.

“He’s a very, grounded young man, levelheaded. He’s certainly prioritized his life right,” offensive line coach Mac McWhorter said. “He’s not a guy who craves a lot of flattery ... His idea of relaxing is much different (from everybody else).”

The big guys up front usually don’t attract the notoriety that players like wideout Allen Robinson do. Robinson, an affable junior, led the Big Ten in receiving last season. But when it came time to taking players to conference media days in Chicago last month, Urschel was the only offensive player to go for Penn State.

“I think everybody knows by now he’s a genius,” Robinson said during a charity event in the offseason. And left tackle Donovan Smith even jokingly refers to Urschel, who boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA, as “Einstein.”

Either way, it was back to work Monday after second-year coach Bill O’Brien whistled the first preseason practice into session at dawn. The top priority is to settle on a starting quarterback between junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson and touted freshman Christian Hackenberg.

Keeping the team healthy and conditioned is also especially important with O’Brien coping with a downsized scholarship roster approaching 65 — the limit mandated by the NCAA by 2014 for four seasons as part of sanctions for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.