Wait... Are We Done

This recruiting year has been crazy. Tomorrow is National LIO day and there are still items flying around. Today, the University of MD's newspaper printed that when Melvin Alaeze (5 star D line prospect) was asked in a phone interview if he was still set on signing w/ Maryland, he said, "I am not sure". From the story is seems that pretty directly after that he hung up. Very interesting. Keep tuned to your computers tomorrow. It could get very, very interesting...

Diamondback Online - Alaeze ‘not sure’ on signing with Terps

Year of the De-Commit

First it was Bani Gbadyu deciding to not go to LSU and become a lion due to economic reasons following the hurricane. Then came the secret visitor in Cedric Jefferies to a PSU game who later reversed from Virginia to come to PSU. Who will ever forget the Pat Devlin story where the firing of his recruitment/QB coach caused him to forget Miami and come to PSU. Then the big one. Antonio Logal-El has been committed to Maryland for over a year (even though he told the Terps he was visiting) to decide just a week ago that he would be a lion as well. With all of these great kids that decided to play in Happy Valley, who would have thought there would be another.

Well, there is another one. Last Friday evening, some rustling started about a surprise recruit, again... People were told we may have to wait until after LOI day for this one as it is a major secret. However, the news it out. Brent Carter of Pottstown, PA just announced for Virginia last week on January 25th. No one thought it would be him that would change his mind after just committing. Well, anyone that did think that is wrong. Brent Carter, the 4 star RB on rivals.com (3 star on scout), has decided to be a nittany lion. Carter makes the second running back to be taken in this class.

Welcome Brent to the 06 recruiting class...

Scout.com: RB Carter Latest to Reverse Field

Admission Difficulty

Below is a link to an article rating how difficult it is to get football players on each school's campus. The rank is based on a 1 - 10 scale with a 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest.

How they rank - OrlandoSentinel.com: Recruiting

Fields Down to Two

Elijah Fields has narrowed his choices to 2; PSU and Pitt. Fields, a 4 star DB/WR by scout.com, is expected to give his decision this weekend. According to Elijah, the one factor that he will use to make his decision is how comfortable each team makes him feel. Especially the chemistry he has with incoming players.

More to come this weekend...

Scout.com: Fields to Decide This Weekend

Anyone Have a Quarter

Well, everyone knows the story of Vidal Hazelton by now. According to an article on scout.com, Vidal is starting to have a real problem thinking about the distance. Pete Carroll visited Vidal yesterday and then went to meet his father, Dexter in New York.

According to Dexter, it is really 50/50 right now and could go either way. Carroll talked about how PSU is a running school and will always be like that trying to say Vidal will never be a star at PSU like he wants to be. I think after reading the article however, that Dexter was more taken away by the comment than anything. He loves how Joe shows a family environment where he meets not only parents, but aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. Something he does not see w/ USC. Dexter is to meet w/ the coaches at PSU this weekend for one last visit.

This is going to come down to the wire. I think the distance will come into play. If he is worried about it now, wait until he is at school. I don't think we will know until LOI day.

Scout.com: PSU or USC? Hazelton is Torn

Coming to an End

Well, the 06 recruiting year is coming to an end. From a very reliable source, PSU has narrowed its list to 2 people to try to add: Hazelton and Fields. So where does that leave Hunter? Well, it appears that Hunter took too long to make a decision and the staff has told him there is no room on the team. They also supposedly told Brent Carter the same thing, hence maybe the reason he chose UVA earlier this week. It is a real shame to not get Hunter. Not only is he a local 4 star, but he has a brother that would be a great get next year. You can only imagine that this will hurt that race next year. Hopefully no bridges were burnt.

No one can complain about the year that this has been both on the field and off. To finish #3 in the country when starting un-rated and now get a guaranteed top 10 (possibly top 5 finish) recruiting class, is unbelievable.

Packaged Deal

This afternoon both Antonio Logan El and Phillip Taylor announced for PSU. ALE is a 5 star OL on scout.com and Taylor is a 4 star DT on scout.com. These are 2 huge pickups from Maryland for the lions. Antonio was a soft verbal to Maryland after his sophomore year, but has since then decided to reopen his recruitment. Today, he ended his recruitment by deciding PSU.

Welcome both. What an amazing class.



Scout.com: Logan-El Picks the Nittany Lions

Taylor and ALE to Announce Today

Antonio Logal El was expected to announce today, but Phillip Taylor was not. And they definitely were not expected to announce at the same place. Taylor will announce following ALE tomorrow at ESPNZone in Baltimore. Both have schools narrowed down to PSU and Maryland. Will be get none, one or both. I guess we will find out soon enough.

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - DT Taylor to decide tomorrow

Devlin Switches to PSU

It is official. Pat Devlin has de-committed from Miami and has switched to Penn State. Pat is a 4 star QB and ranked #4 in the nation at that position by scout.com. Welcome to the Blue and White Pat.

Now we just have to wait and see if this causes anything else to occur. AKA - Vidal Hazelton. Pete Carroll is expected to Visit Vidal tomorrow and Vidal's father is expected to make a trip to State College some time this weekend. More to come, I am sure...

article

McCoy Update

LeSean McCoy is not going to announce for any school according to rivals.com. Rivals talked to Milford's head coach and he mentioned that he is not planning on signing w/ anyone come LOI day.

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Will LeSean McCoy sign next week?

Devlin Update

There is a lot of speculation at this time, but nothing too solid. One thing to note however is Miami appears to be at least setting up a backup plan if Devlin de-commits. On Sunday, Miami received a verbal from Daniel Stegall (2 star QB that was committed to Arkansas State). Daniel is a 2 star QB according to scout.com.

QB contingency plan for UM

Troutman Commits

PSU gets another commitment. A visit my Joe today sparked the 4 star recruit from New Jersey to commit to the lions.

Welcome to Happy Valley Troutman...

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Troutman commits to Penn State

Waiting for Offer

PA top 50 prospect Elijah Fields is still waiting for his written offer from Penn State. Fields has already visited PSU as well as Pittsburgh. He is visiting West Virginia and supposed to visit Ohio State the weekend after. However his SAT retake was supposed to be that weekend as well. Maybe just a short trip to Columbus. When bluewhiteillustrated.com asked if a PSU offer would really shake things up, Fields replied, "Yes".

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Fields waiting for written offer

#19 In the Bag

According to the Washington Post, Evan Royster has joined PSU's 2006 recruiting class. Royster is the Post's All-Met Offensive Player of the Year. He ended his career with 6,384 yards and 90 touchdowns. Welcome Evan...

Getting Close to Crunch Time

Playmakers with the Grades

47 Penn State football players earned at least a 3.0 GPA during the fall 2005 semester. Even further, 14 of those 47 earned a 3.5 GPA or higher to make Dean's List.

What a great accomplishment...

Press Release - 9

Cat is Out of the Bag

Last year, the University of Florida made a head coaching move that helped DWill make his decision to come to PSU. Could this type of thing happen two years in a row?

On January 2nd Miami's head coach, Coker, fired four assistant coaches to include his QB coach, Dan Werner. Werner is the recruiter responsible for landing PA star QB Pat Devlin (#3 QB in the nation according to scout.com). This shifting of coaches has left the door open for Devlin to start to reconsider his commitment. Devlin committed to Miami way back in July of 2005. Before the success of the lions this season. It is amazing what a great season can do for recruiting as we have seen so far already this year. Pat has come out and said that he is "exploring Virginia and Penn State". Virginia was in Devlin's final cut list as PSU was not when he made his decision.

If you look at UVA's problems, you would think Pat would eliminate them pretty quickly as they too have made big coaching changes. I guess we will all have to wait and see how this unfolds. A little teaser for you though, Pat and Vidal Hazelton have become very good friends as they both were expected to attend Miami early going in the recruiting picture. Vidal has been quoted to say that he would love to go to a school with Devlin because he knows the type of caliber QB Pat is.

I am sure all of this is a long shot, but something to keep the final two weeks until LOI day very interesting...

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/19/2006 | Sports in Brief | Downingtown QB backs out on Miami

Recruiting Rankings

PSU has made the top 10 in recruiting with 18 commitments. Currently they are ranked #7 by scout.com after J.B. Walton's announcement last evening. This marks the first time that PSU has jumped Pitt (surprisingly, Pitt has an outstanding class this year), however Pitt has 22 commitments. Here are the rankings.

School	Commits
Florida	25
Texas	25
Georgia	24
Notre Dame	27
USC	15
Oklahoma	25
PennState	18
Pittsburgh	22
Michigan	15
OhioState	17

Scout.com: Scout™ Database

Is the Vidal Push Over?

Vidal Hazelton has admitted that he constantly "still" runs the decision through his mind about his commitment to USC. Vidal, from New York, is worried about the distance from home and his family with moving to California for 4-5 years of his life. He mentioned that the number of receivers that PSU has on their roster is what ultimately scared him away. He feels that next year at USC, there will only be one other WR left at USC for him to compete catches.

As we all know, PSU is currently stacked at the WR position with DWill, Chris Bell (new comer, #5 WR in the nation), Norwood, Golden and Butler (even though there are rumors he will be practicing at CB this year as well as WR). He left Rubin off this list since this would be his final year at PSU.

Vidal did say that most likely, nothing will make him change his mind. So it is a long shot. But who knows. Recruiting takes many different turns and this year seems to be PSU's year.

It is not that PSU really needs Vidal as you can see above that we do indeed have a lot of young receivers already. But it is really hard to pass up the #2 ranked WR in the nation if he even has a hint of wanting to come to PSU. Look for Joe to get personally involved to try to sway him to stay close to home. Just think about it, what would a team do if they had to cover DWill, Bell, Butler, Norwood and Hazelton all at the same time. That is a lot of talent of the field.

Scout.com: Second Thoughts for WR?

Walton becomes #18

J.B. Walton, rivals.com #3 guard in the nation, has committed to PSU this evening around 6:45 PM. J.B. is from Maryland and also good friends w/ current commit A.J. Wallace. Both J.B. and A.J. were not even on PSU's radar until this season. The Ohio State vs. Penn State game caught their eye and they both put PSU on their list afterwards. Couple of months later, they are both lions. Welcome J.B.

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Walton becomes Penn State's 18th commitment

Bostick Speaks

Pat Bostick gave an interview to BlueWhiteIllustrated.com about the upcoming recruiting process. Pat is a junior from Manheim Township in Lancaster. He currently holds offers from Pittsburgh and Louisville and is a top 100 junior prospect on rivals.com. Bostick did say that right now, he would rather stay close to home which is a good sign for either Panther or Lions fans. PSU has yet to offer, but you can be pretty sure they will very soon.

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Bostick ready for bright spotlight in '06

PSU Adds 3 to Roster

The only thing is 2 of them were already there. Levi Brown and Pos made it official today that they were staying in Happy Valley to finish their schooling. Great to have these 2 back next year.

GoPSUSports.com

The 3rd addition was from high school however. Andrew Quarless, the 4 star TE from NY picked PSU over Michigan. Quarless has been for some time expected to pick PSU, however a late push by Michigan had some worried. Quarless is a great addition to this years class.

Scout.com: Quarless Picks Penn State

Busy Friday

Quarless is to announce his decision on Friday at his high school. It is down to PSU and Michigan. Most have predicted for some time now that it will be PSU, however Michigan has put on a late push.

There is also supposed to be a press conference on Friday with Pos and maybe Brown. It is anticipated that they will both formally announce they are staying at PSU for their senior year.

Local Talent to Visit

Jeremiha Hunter, the silent one, will be visiting PSU this weekend. Hunter has not talked much, if at all, to recruiting analyst so much is up in the air with him. Jeremiha is a 4 star LB according to scout.com. With the linebacker talent at PSU already and more already committed, it may be a tough sell if he wants immediate playing time (some have speculated this to be true). Hopefully with being a local boy, he grew up wanting to play for Joepa and wear blue and white. I am sure more will develop after this weekends trip.

Other visitors this weekend include Travis McBride, Elijah Fields, Abe Koroma, Aaron Maybin and Evan Royster.

Brown Back for Another

Rumor has it that Levi Brown has decided to stay his last year at PSU. Great news as we lost every other starting OL. This is still a rumor (backed slightly of course) so take is as you wish. I am sure that a story is soon to follow...

Logan El Commitment Date

Logan El is expected to commit on ESPNNews Tuesday, January the 24th at 4:50 from the Baltimore ESPN zone. Any Maryland PSU fans should make the trip to represent the lions. Hopefully a good day for PSU, but our Hot List presents have not had a good record this year (Rolle, Vidal). Time for things to change. Some thoughts... Logan El is already committed to Maryland so why would he hold a press conference to recomfirm his commitment? Rumors have it that ALE cancelled his UVA visit this weekend and a Florida article is saying he will be in town visiting the Gators this weekend. Logan El did say that he was going to take an "un-offical" visit to HV yet this year so others are speculating that he may in deed visit State College instead this weekend. We will know more this weekend so I guess we will have to wait and see.

How Did I Forget

How did I forget on Saturday to post about the Maurice Evans and A.J. Wallace simultaneous announcement for PSU during the Army All American game? I guess I was too into the game watching Mo charge through the West's OL and chase the QB all game. It was quite the site as he also was given the second best player of the game for the East squad that day because of his play. A.J. Wallace is the #1 CB in the nation according to rivals.com. A.J. is expected to be used next year as a Justin King type player. Much that intrigued A.J. to come to PSU is because they will give him a chance to play on both sides of the ball. Something that caught A.J.'s eye. He was a surprise visitor at the Ohio State game and a lot of people probably thought he just came to see the Buckeyes that day since they were in his top choice. Who would have thought that day was the day that put PSU into the picture?

Saturday was a great day for the recruiting class. PSU's 2006 class is now ranked 12th by scout.com and 14th by rivals.com.

Young Down to 3

Sam Young, the outstanding offensive lineman from Florida appears to have narrowed his choices to 3 schools: Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan. Young also mentioned that he has been a lifelong fan of Penn State and has deep respect for coach Joe Paterno. That can not hurt at all trying to land the 5 star, #2 ranked OL in the nation. Young has a visit set for PSU this month and is expected to decide around LOI day (Feb 1st).

Scout.com: Young Talks Penn State

New Camaro Concept Released

I think they are on the right path. I don't really care for the front end. The grill is just not to my liking. It is a concept, so hopefully they get some feedback on these types of things to make it as good as it can be. I love the side view.



Debut of the Chevrolet Camaro Concept - Autoblog

One More Year

The collegian is reporting that Pos's mother left the cat out of the bag. POS IS RETURNING!!!! Got to be happy about that. With losing so much experience and talent on the D, and a great leader in MRob, this has to have the coaching staff sighing in relief as well as the rest of Nittany Nation.

Posluszny will return to Lions

Pos Update

Great news about Pos. He only has partial news to his PCL and MCL ligaments. Paul will not have to have surgery and rehabilitation is expected to be 6-8 weeks.

My guess is not that he will almost definitely go to the NFL with this little scare. As a PSU fan, I hope that he decides to stay, but I believe the NFL is the best choice for him.

Good luck in whatever you decide Pos. You are the man...

Penn State's Posluszny won't need surgery for knee injury

Evan Royster Narrows the List

Evan Royster has narrowed his list to 2 which includes PSU and Nebraska. Royster has said that they are neck and neck but he has yet to visit PSU. His visit comes January 13th of this month.

Many people have already written off Shady McCoy and have moved onto Royster. People are making the Scott/Hunt comparison with these two as Hunt being the lower ranked (3 star) in his recruiting days.

PSU is also recruiting another RB and is looking good. A.J. Wallace is set to announce at the AA game this Saturday. PSU is hopefully getting 2 commits during the game in Wallace and Mo Evans.

Scout.com: Evan Royster now down to two

Orange Bowl Champs

What a game. KK (Kevin Kelly) missing 2 field goals that could have won the game. (Started thinking UM game all over again) Then EZ messing up the snap at the 4 yard line. Come on, you have done this all year. Why now??? A near game turner was after Scott runs 20 yards out of his own endzone, MRob tries to throw a bomb to a double covered Norwood which is intercepted. I started to wonder if PSU would ever regain the momentum again after that. And for the longest time they lost it. Then out of no where, the Shippensburg, non-playing football transfer, makes the catch of his career. Kilmer made one heck of a move to put his body in place to keep the defender away and make the catch. Then in the 3rd quarter, the safety when Weatherford throws the ball away in the end zone. It all just seemed to work out with the score being perfect for a tie (including the missed FSU extra point) 2 missed field goals later and 3 overtime sessions, KK gets a chance to redeem himself and does. Who even knew it was to be a fake field goal to go in for the win until the press conference at the end when Paterno left it out of the hat? Ganter audibles at the line and KK gets the kick through the uprights. Finally... PSU WINS!!!!

A win, but not without a lot of hard injuries. Tony Hunt sat pretty much the entire game w/ a ankle injury. BranDon Snow left in the second half limping to never return. And the worst of them all, Pos carried off the field to a stretcher to go into the locker room for XRays. I think I speak for everyone when I say, we are all here for you POS. No matter what you decide to do next year, I hope that the injury is not serious. I guess we will find out soon enough.

PENN STATE, 2006 ORANGE BOWL CHAMPS!!!




Nittany Lions claim wild Orange Bowl win