No doubt after leading Orchard Lake St. Mary's to the state title game twice in his high school career, Robert Bolden made the decision to sign with Penn State dreaming he'd go to Happy Valley, replace Daryll Clark and lead the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title.

Forget the fact that the venerable Joe Paterno hasn't started a true freshman QB in nearly two decades.

No, literally — forget it.

Despite the fact that Bolden appeared the odd man out, experience-wise, in a four-man competition at QB for Penn State, his competition recently narrowed by one, as the PSU coaching staff informed U.S. Army All-American Paul Jones — the star of the spring game after enrolling early — that he'd be redshirted, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

That leaves Bolden, sophomore Kevin Newsom and redshirt sophomore Matt McGloin in the battle. According the the Post-Gazette's Ron Musselman, Bolden has been the most impressive QB in camp, despite his relative inexperience, and currently has a better grasp of the offense than Jones.

There's just over three weeks left before the Nittany Lions open the season vs. Youngstown State, but the door has been cracked for a pair of true freshman from this state — Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez admitted it was still "possible" for Devin Gardner to be the other — to start the season under center.

Big Ten Network analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith have already called the race, predicting Bolden to be the Week One starter.