Saturday, February 6, 2010
National Letter of Intent Day was on Wednesday, and Penn State finished with a very good recruiting class. Most publications rank them around 10-12 nationally, and pretty much everyone has them as the top class in the Big Ten. The Big Ten as a conference was down in recruiting this year, mostly due to a very rare down-year by Ohio State. The Buckeyes have consistently recruited top 10 and often top 5 classes, but this year they were ranked around 20. Michigan had a top 25 class once again. Their recent struggles haven't seemed to hurt their recruiting.
Even though Penn State's class ended up being very good, I was not very happy with how the recruiting season ended for the Lions. They started out on fire, with a very impressive list of early commitments. They were ahead of the game from the start, getting lots of high quality commits early. A lot of people, including myself, were thinking it would finish as a top 5 class. They ended up losing two verbal committments in wide receiver Adrian Coxson and Defensive Lineman Dominique Easley, both switched to Florida, who finished with the consensus #1 class. A lot of people were hoping to land top running back recruit Marcus Lattimore from South Carolina and were dissapointed when he chose the Gamecocks over the Lions. In my opinion though, this was not that big of a loss, and it was a longshot anyway since he was from SC. With Royster, Green, and Beachum on the roster, and 4-star recruit Silas Redd coming in with this class, there was no need for another running back.
Notes from this class:
-Interesting that the top two prospects in this class were both from Connecticut. Don't see that very often.
-Quarterback was a big time need and Penn State got two great ones in Jones and Bolden. I've seen Jones play a few times. He is a physical specimen, a huge dude with a big arm, a lot like Clark. But he is far from being ready to play quarterback in college. His mechanics need a ton of work and he is very raw. Enrolling early will help him for sure. I've also seen some video of Bolden, who has much better mechanics. He has a real quick release and a strong arm. He is extremely skinny though. He definitely needs to put on some weight. He did not enroll early. Even though the quarterback position is wide open for next year, anyone who thinks that either of these two true freshman have a shot at being named the opening day starter has clearly not followed Joe Paterno for very long. It will be Newsome or McGloin or maybe even Brackett, but that doesn't mean one of these two won't win the job eventually.
-Excited to have another Norwood on the team.
-Most important observation on recruiting: Notice that Florida State had a top 5 class after Bowden retired. I think Paterno retiring will have the same effect on PSU recruiting. Not to say that he is holding them back, but when Joe Pa decides to leave, that will be the start of something new and exciting at Penn State and will attract a lot of recruits. Especially since the top two recruiters on the staff are Bradley and Johnson, and they will most likely become the head coach and defensive coordinator.
Overall I'm very happy with this class and excited to see what they can do.
