UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- When Penn State linebacker Nathan Stupar attends his family reunion, someone always is ready to talk some football.

Stupar's father, Steve, was an offensive and defensive lineman at Penn State in the late 1970s, and his three uncles played for coach Joe Paterno, including quarterback Jeff Hostetler.

Stupar's older brother, Jonathan, was a tight end at Virginia and is now on the Buffalo Bills' practice squad. Younger brother, Rob, is a fullback at Youngstown State. And Stupar's grandfather, Frank, played at Tennessee.

"Sometimes just walking through the buildings [here], I see my dad's or uncle's names on the wall, and it's just exciting to know that my name is going to be part of that wall, too," Stupar said yesterday.

Stupar, a 6-foot-1, 236-pound redshirt sophomore, attended State College High School, which is less than five miles from Beaver Stadium, the place he now calls home.

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Today

• Game: Syracuse (0-1) vs. Penn State (1-0), noon.
• Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pa.
• TV: Big Ten Network
• Key matchup:
• Radio: WEAE-AM (1250).

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A special-teams standout, he was not expecting to play much in the opener last weekend. But, when outside linebacker Navorro Bowman aggravated a groin injury on the second series, Stupar took over and finished with a team-high 12 tackles (eight solos) and one sack.

"Nathan stepped in and did a fantastic job," middle linebacker Josh Hull said. "It looked like he was really comfortable out there."

With Bowman still hurt, Stupar likely will get his first start Saturday when Penn State (1-0) welcomes Syracuse (0-1) to Beaver Stadium.

"Stupar's learning," Paterno said. "He's going to be real good one of these days. Every game, he'll get better. Every practice, he's getting better. So that's where we are.

"We're going to miss Bowman. Bowman, if he can't play, is a big loss."

Bowman was the team's top tackler last season, as well as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection. Stupar has been practicing with the first-team defense and has been breaking down film on Syracuse quarterback Greg Paulus, a former Duke basketball point guard.

"You got to go into any game always mentally prepared to play special teams or just getting some time at linebacker," Stupar said. "I'm going in learning the Syracuse offense, knowing their strengths and weaknesses, and making myself better as a linebacker."

Stupar played in all 13 games last season, recording 21 tackles and blocking two punts.

"That's a guy who has really matured as a football player," outside linebacker Sean Lee said. "He's always been a really good athlete, but he's matured mentally and really filled in well for us. He's able to step in and play both outside linebacker positions, and I think he did a great job."

Stupar, who carried a 3.49 grade point average in media studies through the spring semester, credited his dad with giving him some great advice.

"He's always said, 'Be yourself and make the man you want to be,' " Stupar said. "He told me, 'People are going to be comparing you to other people and don't take that literally or anything.' He told me not to be the next Dan Connor, the next Paul Posluszny or the next Sean Lee.

"He told me be the next Nathan Stupar. So I'm trying to be my own man and be my own person instead of trying to get behind someone else's shadow."

Stupar said Hostetler, who lost the starting job to Todd Blackledge in 1980, transferred to West Virginia and later led the New York Giants to a Super Bowl XXV victory, also has had a calming influence on his career.

"As you can imagine, 30 or 40 cousins getting together, all being competitors, we kind of got into arguments and stuff, and I would obviously get into those," Stupar said.

"And my uncle would pull me aside and talk to me and say, 'Hey you can't do that. You got to be the bigger man, you got to be able to calm down, be able to regain yourself and just let it go.'

"I think that was a big part of my personality that needed to change, which he helped me through."