Oct 14, 2005 3 min read

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – Michael Robinson’s right arm is laced with muscles and tattoos, but his legs attract just as much attention. Penn State’s quarterback has run for five touchdowns this season and thrown for nine, mostly on long passes to one of his fleet freshmen receivers. He’s got an improving offensive line and mobility that helps keep drives alive and gets him out of trouble.

That might be trouble for Michigan (3-3, 1-3 Big Ten), which welcomes No. 8 Penn State (6-0, 3-0) on Saturday. The Wolverines have had some problems containing mobile quarterbacks.

“They have a quarterback who is really a running back with a quarterback’s arm,” Michigan defensive tackle Pat Massey. “He is somebody who can do it all.”

In beating Michigan State earlier this season, Michigan did OK against the Spartans’ mobile signal-caller, Drew Stanton. He ran for a TD but finished with zero yards rushing.

Now the Wolverines get Robinson, a fifth-year senior who has helped lead the Nittany Lions to their best start since they won the first nine games in 1999.

“He is a great athlete and he runs like a tailback,” Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. “I think he is really developed as a thrower.”

“He’s grown by gigantic leaps and bounds this season,” Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said. “I don’t know if you can ask anybody who can do any more than he has for this team.”

Robinson is the unquestioned leader on a balanced Penn State offense bursting with big-play potential. He has helped speedy freshmen Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Justin King get adjusted at receiver and praised Tony Hunt for pacing a solid running game.

“We just take what the defense gives us,” Robinson said.

“If they give us running lanes, we’ll take that. If it’s passing lanes, we will take that.”

Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the offense hasn’t had a turnover since the first half of the Northwestern game, a span of 10 quarters. Penn State had been tied for the Division I-A lead in turnovers committed with 13 through the first four games.

Two games later into the season and they are still at 13.

“Turnovers are funny animals,” coach Joe Paterno said. “The fact that we haven’t had a turnover in the last two games doesn’t mean a thing. We have to fight to make sure we don’t get them.”

The turnovers weren’t solely Robinson’s fault. Some of the interceptions were tipped at the line or bounced off receivers’ hands.

But Robinson did have a problem with fumbles. Joe Paterno said that his quarterback had been careless with the ball while trying to gain extra yardage.

Robinson said that in recent games he was tucking the ball closer to his body and shifting to a running back’s mentality after taking off.

He might also be helped by a contraption called “The Blaster” that he runs through in practice. It is mainly used by running backs to practice protecting the ball, but Robinson uses it, too.

Though his final stats against a tough Ohio State defense last week didn’t look too impressive, he did run for a score, and Jay Paterno said his quarterback made excellent decisions down the stretch as Penn State went conservative on offense.

Despite the attention over Robinson’s mobility, Carr is aware of the quarterback’s ability to throw.

“I saw him throw a pass this morning in a film tape I was watching. He threw the ball 70 yards. He’s got a very, very strong arm.”