STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Joe Paterno’s recovery from a broken left leg is going so well that he joked about making a dramatic new entrance into Beaver Stadium this weekend.

“New plan – I’m going to drop in from a parachute,” the 80-year-old Paterno said Tuesday after assuring reporters again that he planned to return to the sidelines Saturday for No. 17 Penn State’s season opener Saturday against Florida International.

There are more pressing concerns for Paterno – like the bumps and bruises along his defensive line.

Tackle Abe Koroma is out about a month with a foot injury, while fellow redshirt freshman Tom McEowen is battling back from a right knee injury during winter conditioning.

Weight and stamina problems are hindering promising sophomore Phil Taylor, according to Paterno. Highly touted freshman defensive end Devon Still had a season-ending knee injury at the start of preseason drills.

All could have been expected to play key roles on a young defensive line that returns just one starter, junior end Josh Gaines. Paterno and defensive line coach Larry Johnson talked this preseason about developing depth as the young linemen get used to game-day pressure.

So far, Paterno said he’s done a “lousy job” in getting the team ready for those situations, though he added that that’s how he feels days before every season starts.

“Whether you’re ready or not, I don’t think you’re ever ready until you get into it,” he said.

Besides Gaines, sophomores Jared Odrick and Chris Baker are listed as the starting tackles with redshirt freshman Aaron Maybin at the other end.

That’s partly why Paterno decided to move linebacker Jerome Hayes into a hybrid defensive end-linebacker role like the one Tim Shaw, now in the NFL, filled last season.

Hayes goes from a backup on perhaps the defense’s strongest and deepest unit to a backup on the most inexperienced one. Middle linebacker Dan Connor said Hayes, like Shaw, can rush from the outside or drop back in coverage.