Friday Recruitin' was initially slated to be lighter fare, as PSU had not picked up any recruits and the future was looking solid, yet lengthy.
Then, like a shooting star in a dark night, offensive lineman JJ Denman appeared on the horizon and laid all of our mid-week fears to rest. That gives Penn State three "official" offensive linemen for the Class of 2012 in Denman, Brian Gaia, and Anthony Stanko. I'm not convinced that either Jamil Pollard or Jarron Jones' future ISN'T on the offensive line, but until then, we'll count the number at three. We projected 4-5 offensive linemen in this class, so we're getting towards the end of a great haul in the trenches. Denman is very good friends with PA OL Chris Muller, and Muller was recently visited by a certain redheaded coach, so don't be surprised is Muller is the next, and last, offensive linemen to commit to Penn State. The remaining targets (that PSU has a reasonable-to-good chance of landing) include, in the order I would prefer them: Muller, Patrick DeStefano (see below), Adam Bisnowaty, Greg Pyke, and Blake (brother of Brad) Bars. One of them will be a future Lion, maybe two, but it's almost time for the skill position recruits to come aboard.
So with apologies to the readers and a "Thanks for slightly more than nothing" to Blogger, here is this week's Friday Recruitin' update.
Recruiting News - Offers, Visits, and Other Information
- Rivals.com's Phil Grosz (via an Allentown blog piece) thinks that OH RB Will Mahone will eventually pick Penn State, which is nice. Try to ignore the (hopefully) typo at the bottom of the article that says that inexperienced Alex Mateas and Khamrone Kolb are the frontrunners for the RG position.
- MA DB Armani Reeves named a top four, with a top two that are ahead of the others. "'My favorite two are Michigan and Penn State, and following behind them are Stanford and Boston College.' Reeves said, adding that the Wolverines and Nittany Lions have a decided edge." Reeves' best friend is PSU commit Cam Williams. Just sayin'.
- A lot of good information in Steve Wiltfong's National Notes about Penn State.
- A fluff piece on NY DL Jarron Jones, a soft verbal commit to PSU, from his hometown. But this Detroit News piece is a little concerning, as Jarron's mother says that "Jarron made the decision [to commit to PSU] without discussing it" with his mom or dad, and that she is encouraging him to see other places.
- SC OL Patrick DeStefano is holding a press conference ($) on Monday to announce his college choice. He is thought to be a heavy Clemson lean, but some think that Penn State could surprise here. No one expected to see Anthony Zettel commit, so a DeStefano commitment wouldn't be unprecedented, but I would be very surprised if he picked the Lions. It's not a huge loss, either, as PSU is said to be high on a few other four-star or higher OL recruits (including the silent verbal alluded to above).
- Lions247.com has finally reached the Top 5 in their countdown of the top PA recruits in the Class of 2012. RB Drew Harris lands at the No. 5 spot ($), and while Penn State isn't completely out of it for Harris, most signs point to Harris heading south for college (UNC is said to be the current leader).
- Cory James of FOS has a nice position-by-position recap ($) of the Class of 2012 as it relates to Penn State so far, and it matches up pretty well with what we've been saying here.
- mGo's Weekly Rankings keep PSU at fourth (third in conference members). Since nothing new (as of post time of the post in question) has happened in Happy Valley, I'm OK with this.
- mGo's Wednesday Recruitin' once again doesn't have much crossover, but there is a nice rundown of the expected makeup of the remainder of UM's class.
- Ohio State adds a three-star tight end ($ - info in header). Michigan adds a four-star CB, and continue their blazing run. I don't know what Brady Hoke is offering ($180K?), but at this point, he could probably sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves.
- Mike Mauti has earned a spot on the cover of stat
nerdguru Phil Steele's much anticipated 2011 College Football Preview (magazine DROPS on June 7). Mauti can be seen on the inset of the East Coast distribution cover, though no Penn State player appears on the Big Ten distribution cover. - The Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran an interesting story a couple of weeks ago (sorry!) showing that there are only two high schools in the country that have produced four (or more, I presume) NFL first-round draft picks, and one is Aliquippa H.S. outside of Pittsburgh. The more interesting fact is that "Aliquippa's high school enrollment is about 270 (grades 9-12). Long Beach Poly with an enrollment of 4,650 is 17 times bigger than Aliquippa."
- As if you didn't already know, Penn State has some funny people.
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