Work is bringing the linebacker home yet again. Scott Radecic has been spending extra time in State College and at Beaver Stadium with his high-profile engineering job, reminding him of one of the most important milestones in his life — running out onto that field at Beaver Stadium as a freshman.

And what a most different Beaver Stadium it was back in 1980. Only 84,000 fans fit into the place then, the view of Mount Nittany still unobstructed from inside.

“Never forget the first time,” says Radecic, who played his final game for Penn State in 1983 and went on to play for more than a decade in the NFL with Kansas City, Buffalo, and Indianapolis. “I couldn’t have imagined ever being in front of that many people to play a football game. There’s a lot of emotion to it. The crowd roaring was deafening, so loud. When you’d try to make a defensive adjustment you could never hear yourself talk. How could anyone else hear?

“It’s a pretty special place, to continue to see it grow ...”

He’s talking about growing better with age, not just bigger. So it’s a most unique situation now that he’s a senior principal at Populous, the architectural and design company hired to create a master design and renovation plan of Penn State’s athletic facilities.

That means he’s the point man for the comprehensive examination of all of Penn State’s venues, which includes 31 sports using about 20 practice and game facilities. It’s about identifying short-term needs and long- term growth and stability.

His company will provide details and cost estimates on everything from much-needed overhauls of the indoor tennis and swimming venues to an upgrade for the facilities for the two soccer teams, including the women’s team that won the 2015 national title. (The soccer locker rooms are a half-mile away from Jeffrey Field).

Of course, the No. 1 attraction on the design list is Beaver Stadium, which, at least to some, desperately requires a facelift on a significantly larger scale than the one completed in 2001, also overseen by Populous. Renovation seems the most likely scenario, though Populous and Penn State officials have not ruled out building a new stadium, either.