There aren't many college football players that can say they played against Navy while actually serving their country for it.

For Penn

St

ate fullback P.J. Byers, the latter is already true, and the senior hopes the former comes true Saturday afternoon, too.

It's Military Appreciation Day at Beaver Stadium Saturday when Penn State faces Navy for the first time since 1974, and no one appreciates the Navy more than Byers.

"If I got any kind of carry, or blocking, or any playing time, it would mean the world to me," Byers said. "I am already more than grateful that I have a position on the team, and helping the team as scout team player, so any kind of playing time is awesome," Byers said during a teleconference with reporters.

"But against the Navy, it would be awesome for me."

Byers didn't take the traditional path to Division I football. After playing football and running track for a year at Marietta College in Ohio, Byers enlisted in the Navy, and worked his way up the ladder toward the Naval Officers Program.

He fixed ships, trained dolphins

, and

dove to depths deep below the water's surface, all with the idea of playing college football still in the back of his mind.

Like football, diving has always interested Byers.

"It's really always something I've been interested in, but I never got the opportunity to do it. My uncle is a scuba instructor, and I always wanted to take classes, but never had the opportunity until I saw the Navy diver program," Byers said.

"What an experience to be underwater for first time. I always tried to stay under water in our backyard pool without trying to breathe, so I've always been interested."

After spending three years in Hawaii fixing submarines in what he described as on-the-job training, Byers was sent to San Diego to continue his training, teaching the dolphins to locate mines underneath the docks where incoming ships would dock.

Two years in San Diego led to his selection to the officer program, allowing him to choose any university in the country to attend. The Penn Trafford High graduate knew plenty about Penn State, so the choice was easy. He would attempt to continue his football career with the Nittany Lions.

Byers isn't the only Nittany Lion with big anticipation for Military Appreciation Day at Beaver Stadium Saturday, though. After two tours of duty in Iraq, freshman Brent Smith joined the Penn State program at the ripe age of 26. The excitement from that pai8r of players for Saturday's game isn't lost on head coach Bill O'Brien.

"It's probably a very special week for him and also Brent Smith, who's a guy that's come onto our team this year and has done two tours of duty in Iraq," O'Brien said.

"P.J. Byers is a very special kid. He's a guy that's in the Navy and he wants to be a diver, a Navy specialist diver, when he gets out of Penn State. So you're talking about a guy that's a

very unique

guy," O'Brien said during his Tuesday teleconference.

"Brent Smith's another guy,

very unique

guy. This is a big week for them. We've got a guy on staff, Stevie Williams, who played football at Harvard, played in the pros for a little bit and his mom was in the Air Force for I think 26, 27 years, so you're talking about a very special week for a lot of guys in our program.

"We have so much respect for the military and what it means to our country and so much respect for the Naval Academy and the work those guys put in."