You know about the core guys — Mike Mauti, Matt McGloin, Gerald Hodges etc. — who have kept Penn State's football program chugging.
Beneath the top, unassailable rungs are another group of younger guys who will form the core going forward.
Their stock can rise and fall like a Silicon Valley startup.
What follows is an update, as fresh as possible in the wake of the Nittany Lions' 34-9 defeat of Purdue Saturday, bearing in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future returns.
Stock going up: Sophomore kicker Sam Ficken. The season's biggest redemption, Ficken missed five of his first six field-goal tries, cost his team at least one game, at Virginia Sept. 8, and has the hateful emails to show for it.
But he's made five of his last six FG attempts (the one miss was blocked), and hasn't blown a PAT since Virginia. He even threw his rail-thin body at Purdue return man Akeem Hunt Saturday, knocking Hunt out of bounds and perhaps saving a touchdown.
Going down: Sophomore running back Bill Belton. After nursing an ankle injury for three weeks, Belton seemed to have a breakthrough game when he rolled for 103 yards and three touchdowns against Iowa Oct. 20.
Since then he's increasingly dropped out of the picture. He played only one snap in the Purdue game, and did not touch the ball, while sophomore Zach Zwinak was rumbling for 134 yards.
"He wasn't hurt," head coach Bill O'Brien said of Belton. "I feel like a kid's got to earn it on the practice field. ... So I talked to Billy about that."
Going up: Fourth-year junior wide receiver Brandon Moseby-Felder. The fly-route touchdown he caught late in the Purdue game was good for his first career touchdown. Moseby-Felder has emerged as the wide-out wingman, the guy who's benefitting from the attention defenses are paying to No. 1 receiver Allen Robinson. Moseby-Felder has 25 catches for 362 yards on the year, 14 for 259 in the last three weeks.
Going down: Junior wide receiver Alex Kenney. Penn State had trouble stretching defenses vertically early in the year and Kenny, a speedster from State College High, was thought to be a possible solution.
But Kenney's been passed by Moseby-Felder. He has 12 catches for 129 yards on the year, but zero for zero in the past three weeks.
Going up: True-freshman tight end Jesse James. Big enough (6-7, 264) to have been considered an offensive line prospect, James has quickly emerged as a blocker and skill-position playmaker in O'Brien's tight-end-centric system.
James has a modest nine catches for 123 yards, but seven of the catches and 121 of the yards have come in the last three weeks.
"Jesse's been one of the most improved players in the program," head coach Bill O'Brien said after the Purdue game. "I'd say one of the top five."
Going down: Running back Curtis Dukes. At the start of the season, Dukes was one of a small battalion of potential replacements for USC transfer Silas Redd at tailback, and perhaps, at an athletic 245 pounds, the most gifted of the bunch.
But Dukes has had trouble mastering the offense and the tailback's pass-game blocking responsibilities. Especially since he complained in the media about a lack of playing time three weeks back, he's essentially dropped out of the picture.
Dukes is no better than fourth string at tailback, behind Zwinak, Belton and first-string fullback Mike Zordich. It gets worse: Dukes suffered an apparent concussion on kickoff coverage Saturday.
Nit-Notes: When defensive end Jordan Hill lay motionless on the Ross-Ade Stadium turf Saturday with an apparent knee injury, it looked bad for one of Penn State's best players. It looked no better when Hill was all but carried off the field by massive offensive tackle Donovan Smith.
The prognosis appears much better than it looked at the time. Tests done in the locker room ruled out major ligament damage, including an ACL tear. The senior from Steelton was to receive a precautionary MRI, but for now the injury is being called a left knee sprain.
"Thank you everyone for asking how I'm doing... I appreciate it! I'm good!" Hill tweeted Saturday night. ...
Even though O'Brien has professed hatred for Twitter, some of his players are tweeting machines. Referring to the fact that McGloin leads the Big Ten in passing yards and completions and is tied for the lead in touchdown passes, tight end Garry Gilliam got a bit carried away on Twitter Saturday night:
"Time we take (USC QB Matt) Barkley off the heisman (sic) watch and put McGloin on?"
Steady, fella.
