Recruiting Update 1/28

The recruiting season is in full swing as coaches and teams make their final desperate push to solidify their 2014 recruiting classes before National Signing Day.  Penn State is at a unique disadvantage due to the scholarship restrictions placed on the football team by the NCAA in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky Scandal.  Penn State can only hand out 20 scholarships, instead of the 25 that other schools can give out.  Still, there are plenty of tricks and number fudging that can be done to make it all work and luckily for us, Audrey Snyder of PennLive took the time to break it down flawlessly in one of her latest columns.  Based on her math, and the commitments since her article was published, Penn State can potentially land 2 more recruits to finish out this class.  Here is where the 2014 recruiting class currently stands:

Notes:

- Kicker Jorge Powell will come to Penn State as a walk-on, meaning he will not receive a scholarship and will not count against the scholarship limit.

- 5 of the above players are early enrollees, meaning they're already on campus attending classes and their scholarships will count towards the 2013 class, not 2014.  Those 5 players are: Michael O'Connor, Chasz Wright, De'Andre Thompkins, Tarow Barney, and Antoine White.

- There are 4 major recruiting websites: ESPN, Scout, Rivals, and 247Sports.  Many times a recruit has 3 stars in one place and 4 stars in another.  Just like on the SAT, I took the highest score (star rating) that I could find for each recruit, so some of the ratings are a little inflated.  However, this was never more than a 1 star difference.

Observations:

- The immediate need of this class is at linebacker, where Penn State was already thin before the graduation of Glenn Carson.  As you can see, the coaching staff did a good job of filling this need, pulling in 2 dedicated linebackers, as well as some safeties and a defensive end who are capable of playing the position (a la Stephen Obeng-Agyapong this past season).

- The second most pressing issue was linemen on both sides of the ball.  There are more linemen on the field for each play than any other position and with their larger bodies, they're more prone to injuries.  Therefore, building quality depth along both lines is a necessity if this team hopes to compete for championships in the near future.  Again, the staff passed this test with flying colors, collecting 7 solid recruits (4 OL, 3 DL).

- Lastly, the staff needed to upgrade the skill position talent across the board (WR, TE, RB, CB, and S) to keep up with the faster speed of today's game.  12 total skill players, many with 4 star ratings, should do the trick quite nicely.

- Even with my inflated ratings, none of Penn State's recruits have less than 3 stars or a grade lower than 70 (out of 100) on any of the big 4 sites.  That's a BIG deal since it means that there are no "weak" recruits in this class whatsoever.

- Take an especially close look at the wide receiver group in this class.  3/4 are 4 star players and highly ranked nationally.  Looks like even without Allen Robinson, Christian Hackenberg will have plenty of quality targets to throw to over the next few seasons.

After the sanctions were announced in Jully 2012, if you had told most college football insiders that this is the kind of class Penn State would be pulling in within 2 years, they would have laughed you out of the building.  Thankfully, between O'Brien and Franklin, Penn State is making all those "experts" dine on an all-you-can-eat buffet of humble pie!

In related news, Coach Franklin will be having a recruiting extravaganza at the BJC on National Signing Day (Feb 5th) that will be free for students and only $5 for spectators.  Franklin and his staff will welcome the 2014 recruiting class by giving each recruit an official introduction in front of the hopefully packed arena.  ESPN's Pedro Gomez will even apparently be there to cover the event live all day long.  Speaking of ESPN, if last year was any indication, they will once again turn National Signing Day into a country-wide media circus.  If you're really into recruiting - and don't have a job, since it falls on a Wednesday - I guess it can be fun.  But generally speaking, I think it's just a pointless exercise in the inflation of 18 year old egos that are probably too big already.

Finally, in non-recruiting related news, James Franklin will apparently attend the State of the Union address tonight as the guest of a Congressional Representative and he has a very ambitious goal.  Also, with the Superbowl this Sunday, I'd like to point out that 2 former Nittany Lions, Michael Robinson and Jordan Hill, will be suiting up for the Seattle Seahawks as they take on the Denver Broncos (guess which team I'll be rooting for!).  See how they handled Media Day here.

That's all for now.  Keep checking back throughout the offseason, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus for all the latest news and notes on Penn State football.  And as always, go State!