STATE COLLEGE - Zack Mills or Michael Robinson?

Forget the quarterback controversy. Penn State's fortunes for next season could rest with the players on the other end of the pass.

With spring practice set to start this weekend, coach Joe Paterno said Wednesday that the top concern on offense is not identifying a quarterback, it's improving the wide receivers.

"That's the one thing watching the bowl games after staying at home, the fact that all those big games were determined by guys who made big catches, and that's something we lacked last year," Paterno said.

There's no question that the wideout spots are up in the air. Four of the top five receivers from last year were seniors; the fifth, Maurice Humphrey, is off the team while he faces charges related to an alleged on-campus assault.

It's not that there's a shortage of receivers. The spring roster lists a dozen, and that's not counting incoming freshmen. But only one, Gerald Smith, averaged more than one catch per game last year.

"We've got to try to sort out from eight or 10 that we've got lined up there to see who's going to be the top three or four," offensive coordinator Galen Hall said.

Improve the receivers, and the team will get better, Paterno said. Mills and Robinson are both experienced at quarterback. And although neither had great numbers last year - they combined for 10 interceptions and just 11 touchdowns - Paterno lays much of the blame on last year's receivers.

"There's been a lot of criticism of the quarterbacking last year, but actually our wideouts were horrible," Paterno said. "Not in the sense of effort, but they were confused at times. They didn't run routes the same way twice in a row, and the quarterbacks had some indecision sometimes because they weren't sure what was happening down field."

"I think we've got to settle on three, four, five kids who can play wideout, get them to do what they can do, get the quarterbacks comfortable with them and go from there," Paterno said.

Eventually, though, Paterno will have to return to the quarterback question. Mills, who has started since midway through his freshman year, will be a senior and completed 54 percent of his passes last year. Robinson, an athletic junior who has also started at wide receiver and running back, played well filling in while Mills was injured. And according to Paterno, Chris Ganter is still in the running, despite not completing a pass last year.

"I really have not given that a lot of thought," Paterno said. "I think they go at it, have a little fun in the spring, and we'll see if maybe something will happen in the spring that will establish one or the other, or one of the three. I don't know."

"If, at the end of spring practice something is obvious, then we'll make a decision," Paterno said. "If not, we'll go into the preseason trying to establish who should start."

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Notes: Paterno's contract expires after next season, but he said he's not worried about an extension and hopes to coach another three or four years. ... BranDon Snow, a top fullback recruit two years ago, might move to linebacker; he's still listed as a running back on the roster, but Paterno said Snow had asked about switching to defense. ... Don't look for former Colorado and Washington coach Rick Neuheisel in Happy Valley. Paterno said he and Neuheisel are friends, but dismissed persistent rumors that Neuheisel was in town to take a coaching job.

AP-ES-03-25-04 0333EST