Wednesday Recruitin': Blue-White Game Visitors

Damascus (MD) cornerback/wide receiver Brandon Phelps will be at the Blue-White Game on Saturday, one of several 2011 recruits coming to Happy Valley this weekend to take in the festivities. (Photo: Washington Post)

Much more is at stake this Blue-White Game weekend than building the current Penn State football team. One of the most over-looked (by casual fans, at least) aspects of spring scrimmages is the heavy duty recruiting going on the entire weekend, especially during the game. For many, if not the majority of visiting prospects this weekend, it will be their first time in Beaver Stadium with a crowd in the stands and a team on the field.

This weekend can go a long way towards reeling in a few wavering recruits down the road. Penn State likes to get verbals from its recruits during the late spring and summer periods. That means only a handful of undecided prospects will visit Happy Valley this fall during a game weekend.

Blue-White Visitors

The staff over at Fight on State has released their compilation of this weekend's visitors. They noted that the list could change, but that's obviously expected any time you talk about recruiting. I mean, we're talking about 17-year-old high school hot shots here.

(Full 2011 Recruiting Board)

Pos	Attending BWG	Ht	Wt	40	Offer	Hometown	Verbal
DT	Darian Cooper	6-3	275	--	Y	Hyattsville, MD/DeMatha
OT	Jay Whitmire	6-6	287	5.1	Y	Alexandria, VA/T.C. Williams
OT	Donovan Smith	6-5	257	5.1	Y	Owings Mills, MD/Owings Mills
AP	Darius Jennings	5-11	165	5.1	Y	Baltimore, MD/Gilman School
DT	Marquise Wright	6-3	265	--	Y	Paramus, NJ/Paramus Catholic
DE	Shawn Oakman	6-8	240	--	Y	Lansdowne, PA/Penn Wood
CB	Brandon Phelps	6-0	175	--	Y	Damascus, MD/Damascus

Be sure to scan the sidelines this weekend for any of Penn State's four 2010 in-coming freshmen planning to visit for the game, including Tom Ricketts (above)

Penn State will also host a few of the 2010 signed recruits: Mike Hull, Miles Dieffenbach, Tom Ricketts and Alex Kenney. There's nothing really newsworthy about this, except that it will be interesting to see these guys in person. Plus, outside Kenney, they will all be making a trip just to see the spring scrimmage. It's not to say the other in-coming freshmen aren't just as excited to wear the blue and white, but I like these guys' attitudes.

Pos	2010 Class	Ht	Wt	40	Rank	Hometown	Verbal
LB	Mike Hull (Scout:MLB)	6-1	215	4.55	8/2	Canonsburg, PA/Canon-Mcmillan	Signed LOI
OT	Thomas Ricketts	6-6	265	5.19	19/32	Wexford, PA/St. Mary	Signed LOI
C	Miles Dieffenbach	6-5	277	5.5	4/6	Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel Area	Signed LOI
WR	Alex Kenney	6-0	194	4.41	63/53	State College, PA/State College	Signed LOI

Looking for an offer

New Jersey athlete Miles Shuler (Rivals/Scout/ESPN) is hoping to visit this week, according to Blue White Illustrated. But more importantly for the rising senior from Long Branch, Shuler is fairly confident that Dick Anderson will extend an official scholarship offer during the trip. He has a bunch of offers from BCS programs, including Boston College, Cincinnati, Michigan, Northwestern, Pitt, Rutgers, Stanford and West Virginia. Florida is expected to enter the picture over the summer, as SEC schools are taking an increased interest in Shuler.

Shuler played quarterback this past football season, throwing for 1,300 yards, running for 1,200, while accounting for 25 total touchdowns. He also runs track and said he wants to continue in college. Shuler has been clocked at 10.7 seconds in the 100-meter, 22 seconds flat in the 200-meter, and 6.35 seconds in the 55-meter, good for second fastest 55 time in the nation last year.

Rutgers, Boston College and Pitt have been going hard at Shuler in recent weeks, as he's been on official visits to all three campuses. He had all positive comments about the other programs, but is just as excited to get to Happy Valley, hopefully this week.

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