"Remember when Joe Paterno wanted to turn Jim Kelly into a linebacker? Kelly wisely turned JoePa's odd offer down and went on to enjoy an Hall of Fame career as a quarterback.

Judging from the way Andy Reid talks about Vince Young, you wonder if he'd have pulled a Paterno had he, Reid, been Young's college coach.

"He's so stinking big ... He is wired like a linebacker, man, this guy is tough and competitive. He is a competitive son-of-a-gun and I love it," said Reid as his eyes flashed, his face lit up and voice shifted from its usual blandness to some rare passion during a press conference following Sunday morning's Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice session at Lehigh University. "I love his attitude, he's an aggressive guy."

When Reid looks and sounds that enthusiastic, he's usually talking about a lineman or somebody that flattens ball carriers -- not a quarterback.

But Young has never been a typical quarterback.

He is "stinking big", as Reid noted; at 6-foot-5 and 232 pounds, Young would tower over any Eagles' linebacker and he's roughly the same weight. Had Paterno gotten a hold of Young, perhaps the next Lawrence Taylor would be terrorizing NFL offenses.

Instead, Young often just scares his own fans.

His career touchdown/interception ratio in his five-year NFL career is precisely 1:1 (42/42), which is, frankly, awful (Peyton Manning's is 2:1, for example). Add in Young's 38 fumbles and he's more prone to turnovers than the neighborhood bakery."