Tuesday Recruitin': Defensive 'Back' in Focus?

Defensive backs weren't supposed to be the focus of this year's recruiting class, but all of a sudden this week, the secondary is coming into play. With one highly-touted cornerback ready to choose between the Nittany Lions and one of their old arch rivals, and other defensive backs looking hard towards Happy Valley, this is an unexpected flash-point in Penn State recruiting 2011.

Suddenly Secondary...

East Stroudsburg cornerback Kyshoen Jarrett is expected to announce his decision tomorrow at 3 p.m. It's come down to Pittsburgh and Penn State. My money is on the Nittany Lions, but other, much more prominent recruitniks are calling it a toss up, some even calling Pitt the winner. I'll have a post on his decision when it happens tomorrow afternoon.

Connecticut defensive back Christon Gill (Rivals/Scout/ESPN) has reportedly been verbally offered a scholarship. Gill was originally a Class of 2010 prospect, but didn't land a D-IA scholarship offer last year due to academics. He will attend prep school this year (remember, Daryll Clark took this same path) to get his test scores up and graduate early, hopefully for him to enroll in January. This isn't set in stone yet, because of the academic issues. Kermit Buggs has been recruiting him as a safety, with help from Connecticut products Khairi Fortt and Silas Redd. Gill figures to be a mid-range recruit, what other people would call a "three-star" recruit. God, I hate using star ratings.

North Carolina cornerback Dominique Noble is down to two schools officially--Georgia Tech and Penn State. Most will say GT has the definite edge here, but there is a sliver of hope for this one. Noble never got to Atlanta for his visit. He didn't get to Happy Valley, either, but the fact that both schools missed out keeps things a bit more open-ended than I had expected. If Noble waits, and comes to Penn State for an official visit and sees a game, I really do expect things to tighten significantly. One of the best things going for PSU is the gameday atmosphere.

In other news...

Maryland defensive lineman Darian Cooper has narrowed his list to eight or nine schools, including Penn State. His plans are to take five official visits this fall, but isn't yet sure which schools will get those visits, except... Penn State, Georgia Tech, and UCLA are the three schools Cooper will definitely visit for games this year. Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina State and Maryland are the other schools vying for the two other visits.

Maryland linebacker Conner Crowell recently listed Penn State in his top three college choices, but he's not going to commit any time soon. The finalists include Ohio State and Stanford, with the Buckeyes the only ones with a definite visit date set for the Miami game on Sept. 11. Crowell plans to get to Penn State this season.

Maryland offensive lineman Donovan Smith cut his list to 12 teams, including Penn State this week: Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, UCLA, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Smith would be a huge pickup for this class, as he's already in most recruiting services' top-200 prospects nationally. Smith plans to visit Penn State for the Michigan night game.

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