UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's quarterback derby has been reduced from four to three.

And the odd man out, surprisingly, is true freshman Paul Jones from Sto-Rox High School.

The coaching staff informed Jones Wednesday that they intend to redshirt him this season, a source told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

When reached Wednesday night, Jones' father, also named Paul, said: "No comment."

With Jones out of the picture, the three remaining candidates for the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback job include sophomore Kevin Newsome, redshirt sophomore Matt McGloin and true freshman Robert Bolden.

Practices are closed to the media, but the source said Bolden has been the most impressive quarterback in preseason camp so far, followed by McGloin and Newsome, who served as Daryll Clark's backup last season.

Jones and Bolden both were rated four-star prospects by Rivals.com, while Newsome was ranked the No. 10 high school quarterback in the country by Scout.com in 2008. McGloin is a former walk-on.

The last true freshman to start a game for coach Joe Paterno was Wally Richardson in 1992.

He did so only because of injuries to Kerry Collins and John Sacca.

Penn State opens its season Sept. 4 with a non-conference game against Youngstown State at Beaver Stadium.

Jones, 6 feet 3 and 239 pounds, passed for 1,667 yards and 16 touchdowns last season despite missing several games at Sto-Rox with an ankle injury.

He graduated from high school in December, played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Jan. 9 in San Antonio and enrolled in classes at Penn State two days later.

He was the star of the Blue-White Game in April, throwing two 18-yard touchdown passes to Shawney Kersey in his first collegiate action.

Jones completed 5 of 8 passes for 67 yards in the spring game and was sacked once.

Afterward, his teammates raved about his strong arm.

But Bolden, who didn't arrive on campus until early this summer after graduating from Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's Prep, has a better grasp of the offense at this point.

Bolden was a three-year starter for St. Mary's and led his high school to two runner-up finishes in the Division 3 state championship game.

He ended his career with more than 4,000 yards passing in a run-oriented offense.

He completed 65 of 142 passes for 872 yards and four touchdowns last season while rushing 138 times for 537 yards.

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