Oh, Hello: Joey O'Connor Commits to Penn State

PHOTO: Rivals.com

The Stats
Home/HS: Windsor, CO/Windsor HS
Height: 6’5″ – 6’6″
Weight: between 280-285
40 Time: N/A

The Starz ‘n Sheetz
Stars: 3* (247Sports and Scout)
Offer sheet: AZ, ASU, COLO, TENN, UCLA, USCe, UTAH (also receiving interest from MICH, NEB, among others)

The Cinema

The Tale
Hailing from Colorado is not conducive to Penn State recruitment (at least as far as visits go), so the staff had been urging O’Connor to make it on campus before pushing for a commitment. In fact, the staff didn’t even extend an offer until early May. Once on campus for the Senior Camp, O’Connor, already high on PSU coming into the weekend, saw what he was looking for. His commitment should ease some of the tension caused by the last two commitments.

The Outlook

From Scout: “A high motor player no matter if he’s playing offense or defense. Offensive line is his future position in college. Currently plays left tackle but is better suited for right tackle or a move inside to guard. Uses his hands well, has good feet and athletic ability. Has a frame to be a 300+ pounder. Has some minor areas he could improve on; keeping his hands up in pass pro and getting his heals in the ground in his stance but all are correctable.”

From 247Sports: “Joey O’Connor is a 6-4, 280-pound Offensive Guard from Windsor (Colorado) Windsor. O’Connor has a 247Sports rating of 84, making him a 3-star prospect.”

From Linebacker-U: O’Connor has been high on the Nittany Lion OL board, but the staff had been holding off on O’Connor until they could get him into camp. Well that finally happened during PSU’s Senior Camp and O’Connor both impressed the staff and was impressed with the university enough to make a commitment.

Like the Scout writeup says, he currently plays tackle, but I’d be willing to bet he is moved inside as a guard once on campus. However, as one commenter put it, “recruiting offensive linemen is good, recruiting multi-positional offensive linemen is even better.” With the ability to play both guard and tackle, O’Connor is a valuable weapon to have. Further, he was the 2010 Tri-Valley Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, so you know he’s doing something right.

Finally, I’ll always take the word of 247Sport’s National Recruiting Analyst JC Shurburtt, who had this to say about O’Connor a couple of months ago: “We saw O’Connor in person on Tuesday at his school and he definitely looks the part of a Division I interior line prospect. The 6-foot-4, 280-pounder played ice hockey for 11 years, which helped him with his toughness (he is flat-out nasty on film) and athleticism. Colorado, Colorado State, Utah, Penn State and South Carolina all are showing interest and he probably will have double digit offers before all is said and done.”

Celebrity Doppelganger

Beaker, hapless assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew