Month: January 2018

Wednesday, February 7, is a day every college coach marks on his calendar. February 7th is national signing day, the day when all recruiting classes are finalized and football pundits can begin to talk about who will have a legitimate shot at a national title. For years this has been the big day, but this year, the NCAA changed the rules and allowed for one early signing period to take place in December for a few days. Most players signed their national letters of intent on those days, but there are still a few prized recruits left to commit including 4 star OT from Maryland, Rasheed Walker. Rasheed Walker is the most important remaining prospect for Penn State football as the offensive line has been a sore spot for the team the last few years. Other than Walker, Penn State will be watching to see what 4 star receiver Solomon Enis will do. Enis, for a long time, has been projected to go Penn State because he is the son of former Penn State All-American Curtis Enis. Other than this, signing day will be a quiet day for Penn State. With this in mind, this blog will take the time to now highlight some key pieces of the recruiting class.

5 Stars: Micah Parsons, Justin Shorter, Ricky Slade. These three players were touched upon in the last blog because of how instrumental they will be for the sustained success of the program. All three players have the ability to play as freshman.

4 Stars: 11 in total. With 11 total four star recruits to go along with the 3 five stars, Penn State has an incredible number of 14 blue chip prospects. This total is enough to propel Penn State into uncharted territory as, according to ESPN, this is Penn State’s highest recruiting class ever (the classes began being scored in 2006) With this is mind, fans everywhere should be very excited for what is to come in the next few years. Of those four stars we will focus in on a few. 1. Jayson Oweh. Oweh is a very interesting and exciting prospect. He is a DE and ranked as the fifth best at his position in the country. Owen signed during the early signing period but did not announce his decision till later on national tv (he chose the Lions over OSU) Besides his lighting speed and agility, the reason he is so exciting is that he did not begin playing football until he was a junior in high school. That’s right. High school. He is just full of untapped potential and should be one to keep an eye on. 2. Frederick Scruggs out of Erie Cathedral. This is a very important player as he will help alleviate the O-Line issues. He is the fourth best player in respective position. 3. Zach Kuntz/Pat Friermouth. Kuntz and Friermouth are part of the best signed TE duo in the country. Kuntz is the 4th best in his position and Friermouth is the 9. Two top ten TEs is a solid start at replacing Mike Gesicki.

The new season cannot come soon enough. At least Blue White game is coming up.

The 2017 season is officially in the books. Alabama is national champions, blah blah blah Nick Saban, blah. In college football, each team is around for only one year. Next year’s team will be will lose key players Marcus Allen, Jason Cabinda, Mike Gesicki, Daeshean Hamilton, and Troy Apeke among others to graduation. Undeniably, the biggest loss will be of consensus first team All American, Saquon Barkley who isforgoing his senior season for the NFL draft and is predicted to be a top five draft selection. Key returning players include: Trace McSorely, who is on the preseason shortlist of Heisman Trophy contenders, Juwan Johnson, Miles Sanders, and John Reid who is returning after missing last season with a torn ACL. The team has certainly lost a lot of star power, but there are several key young players waiting for their chance to shine. Among those potential stars are Tariq Castro-Fields and Lamont Wade at the defensive back position, and five star freshman Micah Parsons who will be looking to earn the starting position at linebacker. After losing the star power this teamhas, most teams would experience a rebuilding year, but not Penn State. Coach, James Franklin has done an admirable job recruiting in the last few years and has the young talent primed to make an instant impact. This year, Franklin has his recruiting class situated nicely at 4 in the country with several incredibly promising prospects.

Taking an in depth look at this year’s recruiting class, it is no secret that homegrown, 5 star, 5th best prospect in the country, Micah Parsons is a huge recruiting win for Franklin. Beyond Parsons, there are two other five stars, WR Justin Shorter (number one receiver in the country according to ESPN), and RB Ricky Slade (number two running back according to ESPN). These three players are the nucleus around which Franklin hopes to build a national championship team. All three players have the potential to have a considerable impact as freshman. What Franklin has accomplished is quite remarkable as having three five stars commit in one class is the most Penn State has ever had. In the class, Penn State has an incredible 14 blue chip recruits. (a blue chip recruit is any recruit who is four or five stars) Some may say that four and five star recruits do not matter, they may use the example of three star QB Trace McSorely leading PSU to a Big Ten title, but there is no way to deny hard statistics. The last ten national champions have been over the magical threshold of more than 50% of their scholarship players being former blue chip recruits. With this year’s class, Penn State will join an exclusive club of less than ten teams nationally that can claim that. Does this mean a national championship is in the cards? Potentially, but one cannot forget wh
at Urban Meyer has been able to do at OSU where his class currently sits at 2 in the country.

 

Being the offseason, the blogs will continue to look at Penn State off the field in the subsequent blogs.

#dontbethatguy goes to Georgia. Blowing that lead? Come on dawg.

11-2, and a Fiesta Bowl victory. To most, that seems like a successful season, even a great season. But why does it feel so.. empty? Why does this feel like a let down? Penn State won its biggest bowl game since a 2005 Orange Bowl victory of Florida State. Penn State finished in the top ten for back to back seasons. We, as fans, were privileged to watch the once in a generation talent of Saquon Barkley routinely produce highlight reel plays. Every week it seemed like the game was not complete until Barkley broke off a big play. That is not normal. Players do not do that. One or two, or maybe five, at most, big plays would qualify as a phenomenal talent and incredible year, but Barkley could have an astonishing career highlight tape of his career and it would only have to show his junior season. So why does it feel like something is missing?

The Nittany Lions were four points from perfection. Four. A 39-38 loss at #6 Ohio State and a last second field goal loss to #24 Michigan State resulted in a 27-24 loss that would ultimately quash the hopes of a birth to the program’s first College Football Playoff. Had Ryan Bates not gone down with an injury against Ohio State, maybe the offensive line could have given Barkley enough time to run some clock, or maybe it could have prevented the running game from being torn apart the next week against Michigan State. Maybe if the defense made one more play, or just sacked JT Barrett one time in the fourth quarter could they have stolen the momentum, or maybe the pass defense could have done anything but give up 400 passing yards against Michigan State. What if Trace McSorely did not throw three interceptions against Michigan State, including one late in the game that could have put Michigan State away instead of allowing them to tie the game?All these what ifs will forever live on for those who followed the 2017-2018 season. The fact of the matter is, PSU at one point held the #2 ranking in the country and had the single best football player in the country. With this in mind, anything but a national championship seems like a disappointment.

This view could not be anymore nearsighted considering where the program was just four years ago. This year, Penn State just finished off an incredible campaign with an incredible New Years’s Six bowl 35-28 win against a stout #11 Washington Husky team.

The Huskies had the number one rushing defense in the country giving up just over 94 yards a game. Saquon Barkley gained 92 yards in just one play as the Penn State offense lit up the tough defense. On the defensive end, the PSU defensive backs did an admirable job forcing a very dangerous QB in Jake Browning to under 200 yards passing.

A Fiesta bowl win (which I had the pleasure to witness in person), back to back top ten rankings and 11 wins seasons, and a recruiting class ranked number four in the country as a result of the on field success? Yea, I guess you could say it was a very successful season.