Derrick Williams starting laughing and then his eyes lit up at Friday's NFL Combine. The former Penn State receiver began talking about his iconic head coach, Joe Paterno, the guy that every year gets asked more about his retirement than Brett Favre.

Except he's still there.

"Joe Paterno's one of those coaches that he eats, sleeps, dreams everything about football," Williams said. "That's what's keeping him going. He's very young at heart. We know that if he was going to retire, something would have really, really had to been wrong, like he died on the field or something like that.

"I never even thought about it. I thought this year might have been the year and the next thing I hear is 'I can't wait to run out on the field next year.'" Paterno has every intention of returning in 2009 and Williams said he seeing the face of Penn State football coaching for the rest of his life -- and then potentially staying there beyond.

Actually, it is one of the things that scares the Penn State players the most, that he'll actually die on the field.

"The things that spook us out as players is that we think Joe is going to be buried on the field," Williams said. "Everyone is going to come to the stadium and if he does go, it's just going to be a big funeral at the stadium."