You'd think Graham Zug would be getting tired of it by now:

Yeah, he's a walk-on. Barely recruited out of high school. Too slow for the big-time, supposedly …

Get over it.

Except that Graham hasn't gotten over it. Doesn't want to.

"If you come in as a highly-recruited guy, maybe you don't get the whole experience of starting at the bottom and developing a work ethic," Zug said in a teleconference with sportswriters Tuesday.

"You really have to be focused on the right things. I'm glad I came in as a walk-on."

"I think it's something he takes pride in," David Zug, Graham's father, said Thursday. "It made him what he is."

What he is is a junior starting wide receiver at Penn State, which travels to Northwestern Saturday (4:30 p.m., ESPN/ABC). Zug had the best game of his career last week, catching three touchdown passes in the Nittany Lions' 35-10 win at Michigan.

The Lions are 7-1, 3-1 in the Big Ten Conference with four games left. Penn State trails Iowa by a full game in the league standings and lost to the Hawkeyes head-to-head, but a BCS bowl bid and at least a piece of the league title are still out there.

Penn State is 12th in the current BCS standings.

It's true that Zug is nowhere near the fastest, most athletic wideout in the Big Ten. It's also true, now beyond doubt, that he can play at a level thought beyond him in high school, despite the fact that he was an all-state player at Manheim Central.

Connecticut recruited him, but didn't offer a scholarship. Delaware did. Penn State, low-profile for a long while, came in late and offered no full ride, but preferred walk-on status.

David is a Penn State alumnus. He and his family are long-time football season ticket holders. Graham's older brother, also David, played in the Blue Band. Younger sister Daneen is a Penn State field hockey player.

When Graham calls Penn State his "dream school," it almost sounds like an understatement.

Still, Delaware was offering more than Penn State was.

"I sat down with my parents," Graham said. "They told me to not sell myself short, not accept that I couldn't play at that level. I went with their opinion."

Zug got a scholarship heading into the 2008 season, in which he caught 11 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns.

Much of that came against lesser opponents. A 49-yarder at Ohio State was a very notable exception.

But Saturday Zug got open, again and again, against Michigan, against the kind of athletes who supposedly overmatch him.

"You have to be really focused on route-running," Zug said, explaining how he's learned to get open. "You have to get to exactly the right depth, be really precise in your cuts."

He added that, "We're all human. I'm gonna win some, the defender's gonna win some. I knew I could play at this level."

Joe Paterno was slightly less certain, he admitted Tuesday.

"If you said to me when he first came in how good is he going to be, I would say nice rangy kid, tough," JoePa said. "Wish he had another step of speed. Let me see him for a while."

He's seen enough.

"He certainly has come through for us," Paterno said. "He's a good football player. I like Zug for a lot of reasons. He's a heck of a practice player and he does everything the way that you would want it done."

David and Claudia Zug travel the Big Ten circuit frantically this time of year, trying to get at least one parent to as many of Graham's and Daneen's games, home and away, as possible.

But the field hockey team is struggling this year and so is Daneen, with a nasty, nagging back injury.

The field hockey team was in Bloomington, Ind. last weekend to face Indiana Friday and Pacific Saturday.

Mom and Dad saw the Indiana game, a loss that dropped the Lions to 6-11. With Daneen hurting and perhaps not playing Saturday, David and Claudia both went to Ann Arbor for the football game.

So of course Daneen scored two goals in a defeat of Pacific. And of course she text-messaged the ball into Graham's court. And of course he responded with the best game of his college career.

"It's that classic sibling rivalry thing," David Zug said.

Lesson learned. This weekend, Dad's going to Northwestern for the football game. Mom will be at Michigan State for field hockey.

mgross@lnpnews.com