2009 Recruiting Class

[el_duderino]

One of these days years, I'll get one of those subscriptions to Rivals or Scout, so I can actually feel like I'm allowed to know what's going on in the recruiting world of Penn State...

(On a side note, I really find this to be the only reason to follow high school football. I don't care about which high school is best, just show me the top prospects. Just my opinion...)

However, from what they allow me to see for free, it was a great summer for recruiting, with 16 kids giving a verbal commitment already. Breakdowns are as follows:

5-Star prospects = 0
4-Star prospects = 3
3-Star prospects = 9
2-Star prospects = 4
1-Star/No Rating prospects = 0

And by position:

QB = 1
RB = 1
WR = 2
TE = 0
OL = 6
DL = 1
LB = 0
DB = 5
K/P = 0
ATH = 0

Needless to say, our depth along the offensive line and secondary will be set for a few years. Both pick up a 4-star prospect (the other is a DE). But let's not talk down the 3-star prospects - they can just as quickly be top players (Koroma, Royster, Clark, Scirrotto, Sean Lee. Oh, and these guys Hunt, Kinlaw, and Posluszny...).

So what's left to be done, not to mention available? Well, I'd like to grab one of the top QBs. Kevin Newsome was initially a Michigan commit, but he de-committed and top-PSU probable Tate Forcier jumped at the chance and committed to UM. Kevin Newsome turned around and put State on his short-list, and with a lack of real depth at QB, it could be a great selling point. (Newsome de-committed due because of too much depth at UM.)

After that, it's making the DL deeper - I think the two games so far this season have shown necessity for that. One of the top DE's, Anthony LaLota, might make an announcement in the coming day/days. Still a few 3-stars on the end, and only one solid 4-star DT (Isaac Holmes) on the board.

Of no concern to me at this point are the OL and DB - already 11 between the two positions is good enough for one year. And I won't be upset if no top LBs come this year - we've had 8 4-star LBs in the past 3 years. The depth is there. And I'll probably throw RB into that group - we're 5-deep now, so anything more is just a large plus for both positions.

As for the other places to focus, I would like to see a couple more WRs (can never have too many), with at least one being a top 4-star prospect. We also just threw an offer to the #1 TE prospect, Logan Thomas - you can never go wrong with good TEs. And, as always, kicking/punting is good if available.

So, the names to keep an ear out for:
QB - Kevin Newsome
WR - Todd Thomas / Justin Brown
TE - Logan Thomas
DE - Anthony LaLota
DT - Isaac Holmes
LB - Dan Mason / Jelani Jenkins
ATH - Stephon Gilmore

[el_duderino]

DE/OL Anthony LaLota decided he would like to suck at life and committed to the University of Michigan.

WR Todd Thomas is expected to make his announcement in the coming weeks.

[el_duderino]

Penn State added two more commitments this week following the Illinois game, bringing us to 18 for this class.

First was Glenn Carson, a top New Jersey linebacker. Had a decently impressive list of scholarships/interested schools, and will easily help continue the depth of a solid linebacking crew.

Next was Maryland ATH Devon Smith (will likely play WR). He's small at only 5'7" 153lbs (he's freakin smaller than me!), but he has a sub 4.4 40 and is a track star, winning the state's 100m and 200m championships. At the very least, that's another solid return man and a receiving option to push safeties deep.

Recruiting commits are more rare during the season - most kids have their own HS games to focus on, and are focusing on taking all of their campus visits before making a decision. Still, big games like Illinois (and perhaps Michigan and Michigan State) will be enough to swing players to make their decisions during the fall. It's always nice to have early commits!

[el_duderino]

Quick update - WR Todd Thomas has decided that he likes playing for men with strange mustaches, so he's heading to Pitt.

One of these days, I'll actually get access to Rivals or Scout so I can find out which recruits will be around this weekend.

Also, add Tajh Boyd to the short list of QBs on our radar. He, like Kevin Newsome, just decommitted from his original verbal - Newsome from Michigan due to depth reasons, and now Boyd from WVU due to their lack of offensive competence. Another athletic QB, word is he has Tennessee and Boston College at the top of his list, but I thought I read he is visiting this weekend. We shall see how that all shakes out...

[el_duderino]

Another commitment makes it #19 - not bad at all. And this one is important, as it fills a void nicely.

Let's welcome Michigan de-commit Anthony Fera, a 6'2", 230 lb - now get this - KICKER out of Houston, TX. He's a 3-star kicker, and there aren't many of those out there. It'll be nice to fill Kevin Kelly's void right away with a solid leg.

Also, here's an interesting bit of info - footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=866639. Looks like the dominoes might fall nicely as long as we can keep this up. Would love Newsome, Ankrah (should be a lock), and Hawkins. Still hoping for a top WR to commit, but that may be all in time.

[el_duderino]

20th commit is TE/DE Garry Gilliam. And he's a big dude - 6'6", 260lbs. We'll try him at TE, but we won't hesitate to try him on one of the lines (OL or DL).

This 20th commit means, assuming all stay on board, we have 5 scholarships left for the fall. There are still a few big names we'd love to grab - Jelani Jenkins, Kevin Newsome, Justin Brown, Bryce McNeal (WR out of Minnesota). Should other prospects jump in and grab some of those scholarships, we can either a) rescind a scholarship and force that player to walk-on or b) use any of last year's unused scholarships towards a player who decides to enroll in the Spring. Either way, it's been a very solid recruiting season, and a couple more recruits could push this towards the top of the recruiting classes.

[el_duderino]

Recruiting verbals #21 and #22 are HUGE! Oddly enough, both are de-commits as well.

Recruit #21 originally committed to Rutgers before deciding to call Happy Valley home. Gerald Hodges is a listed as a 6'3", 220lb linebacker out of Paulsboro, NJ. However, it's very likely we'll move him to safety (seeing how we have a couple of openings). And seeing how he's looking to enroll early this spring, he'll have a lot of time to learn and be ready. There's a real chance he'll see playing time as a true freshman. It's another 4-star recruit with a 4.46 40.

Recruit #22 originally committed to scUM. And let's be honest, after recent events, this is THE BIG ONE. We officially locked up the 4-star QB Kevin Newsome. This kid is another dual threat QB, so there are more years of spread offense to come! 6'3", 217lbs, 4.57 40. Big, mobile, scary. I'll take it! It means he will have a year behind Clark, and then 3 years as the potential starter. (And yes, Devlin's transfer helped push Newsome to Penn State.)

3 more scholarships available, plus 2 that were unused from last year to be able to put towards early enrollees. There's a decent chance that a top WR or two decide to swing towards Penn State now, knowing a top QB will be around and starting for a number of years. And the big one will still be Jelani Jenkins. Sure, we're pretty deep at LB but not taking him would be like not taking Jerry Rice in his prime. You'll find a way to get the #3 overall HS senior into the games. Either way, it's been a pretty solid recruiting class with the chance to make even bigger noise before it's said and done.

[el_duderino]

And we keep stealing recruits away...

Say hello to #23 - Jordan Hill. Another Rutgers decommit, Jordan is a 6'3" 280lb lineman who plays both sides of the ball - you know, like basically any top high school prospect does. Still, he put up huge numbers as DT, and that's likely where he'll slide into this mix, giving us another very talented player to the depth chart and recruiting class. He was named to the Pennsylvania Class-A All State First Team, and was named co-player of the year. He played mostly LB in high school, racking up 117 tackles, 41 TFL, and 12.5 sacks his senior season. From the sounds of it, we've got a nice little prospect here.

The two biggest names still floating around are LB Jelani Jenkins and WR Justin Brown. Locking up those two would probably ensure this class to be one of top in the nation and set us up for years to come. Also, I'm updating the earlier list I had to bring us to the 23 current commits. I've decided to switch from Rivals to Scout for this list for no real rhyme or reason. (At the end of the day, the star-system is flawed and some of these players might ultimately change position before they ever see PT at Penn State.)

5-Star prospects = 1
4-Star prospects = 6
3-Star prospects = 14
2-Star prospects = 2
1-Star/No Rating prospects = 0

And by position:

QB = 1
RB = 1
WR = 3
TE = 1
OL = 6
DL = 2
LB = 2
DB = 6
K/P = 1
ATH = 0

[el_duderino]

Talk about your big recruiting weekends...

Let's start with #24 - WR Shawney Kersey. Yet another kid who was originally a verbal to Rutgers who decided Happy Valley looked better than New Brunswick. 6'2", 190 lb, 4.45 40-yd - definitely looks good on paper. And after the group we just lost, adding depth is huge.

Then #25 joined - OL/DL John Urschel. Don't let his 2-star status be a downer - kid did see apps from other major colleges (Stanford, Pitt and BC), so somebody saw something. On the plus-side, he's a great student and it's good to get the positive people into the program.

Also on the recruiting trail, we picked up our second verbal commit for the 2010 class (first was LB Mike Hull). Paul "P.J." Jones, QB from Sto-Rox, announced his commitment to Penn State. They don't do the rankings for next year's class yet, but he's expected to be one of the top QB prospects in the nation. So we'll be set on QBs for a few years to come.

Also on the horizon, Delaware WR Justin Brown is rumored to announce his decision today, with Penn State leading the charge. It's down to Brown and Jelani Jenkins to round out this recruiting class, and at this point, this is a damn good class.

[el_duderino]

Well, here's the final list from Scout.com recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=8&toinid=688&yr=2009.

2 late additions - 2-star DB Michael Wallace, and one of the big ones in 4-star WR Justin Brown.

Depending on the recruiting site you use, we finished somewhere between 10th (Scout.com) and 25th (Rivals.com). Of course, trying to predict which players will be stars in college is even more flaky than trying to properly draft in the NFL. But at the end of the day, we did a lot of what we needed to do:

Restock lost positions - We lost our top 3 WRs, our entire secondary, a sizable chunk of our OL, and 2 QBs. We restocked with a top-tier QB, 5 WRs (one top tier), 7 OL (one top tier), and 7 DBs (one top tier). And we picked up one of the top kickers to boot.

Add depth - Add another RB, a couple of LBs, and a couple of DLs, and everything is set for another few years. Also, with 27 total in this class, and large chunks at a few positions, we'll get the opportunity to "grey" shirt a few guys - adding a "6th" year for a few of them.

Flexibility - We'll be able to move a couple guys around depending on the needs of the team. A few of the OL/TE can play DL; DBs and WRs are usually easy to switch around; and RB Curtis Dukes is a QB option if needed.

It may not be the "flashiest" of recruiting classes, but it does a lot to keep the program looking strong for years to come.