The Nittany Lions expect to land the 15th member of their 2010 recruiting today at noon when Manheim Central High's Dakota Royer announces his college choice.
The defensive end/linebacker hybrid is highly-regarded by national recruiting experts and has a big list of scholarship offers from top-tier programs such as Notre Dame, Oregon and Michigan State.
Most predict that he will pick Penn State.
He is rated as a three-star (out of five) prospect by national recruiting services but some experts, such as CBS Sports analyst Tom Lemming, said Royer may be the most productive player in Pennsylvania and expects him to develop into an All-America type at Penn State.
Meanwhile, the recruiting saga of Marcus Lattimore, arguably the top running back in the nation, continues on. The South Carolina kid has pushed back a much-anticipated unofficial visit to Penn State before but now finally seems to be coming for sure this weekend.
He is traveling with family members as well as teammate Nick Jones, another Division I-A prospect.
July 2009 Archives
The Nittany Lions seem ready to enjoy another big recruiting week.
The Lions are favored to get verbal commitments from two more top-line prospects, starting on Monday with New Jersey tight end Kevin Haplea.
Later in the week Manheim Central High's Dakota Royer is expected to join the fold.
And in between they should be visited by arguably the nation's top running back in South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore, who is scheduled to arrive with teammate Nick Jones, an impressive receiver/defensive back prospect, as well.
After a shot at an NFL career didn't pan out, former Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli has gotten into coaching.
The former Penn Hills High star hs reportedly accepted the quarterbacks' coaching position at Plum High around Pittsburgh, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Morelli threw for 5,371 career yards, which is 10th all-time in Penn State history.
An old friend of mine is creating a bit of a stir.
And it's most interesting here because it involves Penn State football.
Dave Curtis, a former newspaper colleague of mine in town, now writes for The Sporting News and recently wrote a piece describing his thoughts for a "nightmare Armageddon BCS scenario."
That means six undefeated college football teams in 2009.
And Penn State is one of them.
Certainly, there's a method in the way high school football stars are verbally committing to Penn State this summer.
We're talking about the game within the recruiting game.
Follow it this way: The Nittany Lions, from what we can tell, basically have had handshake agreements with several prep stars who didn't officially announce their early commitments to the program right away.
Why wait?
It was just a matter of time, most figured, before wide receiver Alex Kenney pulled the trigger for the hometown Nittany Lions.
He finally did on Tuesday, becoming verbal commitment No. 13.
The thing is, he had over 20 major scholarship offers and could have used his combination of pass-catching skills and elite track and field sprint speed at places like North Carolina or South Carolina or Virginia.
But the most interesting thing about Kenney picking the Lions?
It's that in a couple of years you'll probably get the chance to see two State College High teammates lining up for the Lions on the outside.
Levi Norwood, another wide receiver and State College product, gave his verbal to the Lions not too long before. No matter that he'll play his senior season of football in Waco, Texas after his father, Brian, left the PSU staff to become the defensive coordinator at Baylor.
No matter that Levi Norwood may "grayshirt" and not enroll at Penn State until January of 2011.
The staff apparently loves him, and why not? He appears to be simply a taller version of his older brother, Jordan, who became one of the steadiest and most prolific receivers in Penn State history.
Same great hands, same work ethic, same athleticism.
And both Levi Norwood and Kenney have decent size (6-feet tall) to go with their speed and could well be on the Beaver Stadium field at the same time in the future.
Two hometown kids starting for one of the biggest programs in the country?
Just a little something to look forward to.
The Nittany Lions and new defensive end Jack Crawford have gotten some love from ESPN The Magazine.
Specifically, it comes from college football writer Bruce Feldman, who has unveiled his "top-10 list of players I'm most curious to see in the fall."
Number seven? That would be redshirt sophomore Jack Crawford, the Lions' expected pass rushing machine of 2009.
Said Feldman: "Next in D-line coach Larry Johnson's pipeline is Crawford, a British-born pass-rushing force who has generated quite a buzz during the past few months in Happy Valley. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Crawford, one of just three true freshman to play in every game for PSU last season, grew up boxing and playing cricket. He also has some PSU insiders believing that he has more potential than any of the ends Johnson has coached."
Other Penn State-related notes of interest?
Feldman lists former Penn State defensive tackle Phil Taylor at No. 9 on his list. Taylor, who was booted from school for off-field problems, will play this fall for Baylor and former Penn State assistant coach Brian Norwood.
Lion linebacker Sean Lee was one of Feldman's "just missed the cut" picks.
And the No. 2 spot was reserved for Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the former Penn State recruit from the Pittsburgh area. He is probably the most popular target of taunting PSU fans.
Two future Penn State quarterbacks were invited to the prestigious Elite 11 camp in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., though only one can attend.
Michigan's Robert Bolden, who gave a verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions last Friday, will make the trip from July 20-23 to learn and compete against 11 other quarterbacks from across the nation. Sto-Rox High's Paul Jones, also a Lion commitment, was invited to the camp but cannot go after recent surgery for an ankle injury.
Both will be high school seniors in the fall.
This group was selected from more than 1,000 high school QBs who attended regional camps. Fans can even follow the closed-door, four-day event next week by visiting www.Elite11.com.
Daryll Clark, Penn State's starting quarterback this season, will be one of the college counselors at the camp, along with Colt McCoy (Texas), Juice Williams (Illinois), Cody Hawkins (Colorado) and Zac Robinson (Oklahoma State).
Past Elite 11 participants include current NFL QBs Mark Sanchez, Matt Cassel, Matthew Stafford, Troy Smith, Vince Young and Matt Leinart.
Bolden (6-foot-4, 205 pounds) will compete against these quarterbacks: Austin Hinder (committed to California), Barry Brunetti (West Virginia), Blake Bell (Oklahoma), Chandler Whitmer (Illinois), Devin Gardner (Michigan), Jake Heaps (BYU), Jess Scroggins (undecided), Joe Boisture (Michigan State), Nick Montana (Washington), Phillip Sims (Alabama) and Tyler Bray (undecided).
The next, and maybe last, great Penn State recruiting weekend is almost upon us.
Thousands will descend on State College for the Arts Festival, which means that dozens will walk over to see Lift for Life, the football team's workout competition in Holuba Hall that is open to the public -- an event that will raise money for kidney disease.
This also means that the recruits are coming.
It seems as if the Nittany Lions are in perfect position to grab their second top national quarterback recruit for the class of 2010.
Michigan's Robert Bolden, considered among the top 10 nationally at his position, said he will make his announcement from his high school on Friday.
The telling part? He's be choosing from among Penn State, Oregon and Louisville -- and he never so much as stepped foot on campus of the latter two schools.
He's made at least two visits to Penn State in the past few months and the Lions appeared to become his clear leader after Michigan State received a verbal commitment from another promising quarterback two weeks ago.
Bolden's verbal would probably give the Lions the top quarterback recruiting class in the nation, which also includes Pittsburgh-area star Paul Jones. (As an interesting aside, Jones had surgery on an ankle that he injured playing basketball and probably will be out of action for up to two months).
"I'm definitely a dual-threat type guy," Bolden told Scout.com. "When things break down I can get out of it. I can make plays with my legs and that's a plus.
"But I'm still trying to get faster. I'm running a lot of track because I want to work on my speed. Track also helps me with my balance and coordination. It definitely helps my footwork."
There's no doubting this time, we suspect.
Remember five years ago when the Nittany Lions were struggling and the staff gave away a scholarship to Jordan Norwood, the son of a Penn State coach, a kid with no other real Division I-A scholarship interest?
Northwestern might have been the only competition.
The point was, Penn State fans were furious at handing out a precious scholarship to a coach's kid who may have well been happy enough as a walk-on.
Of course, that Norwood turned out to be pretty good, huh?
So now it's time to bring on his kid brother, Levi.
And, for the most part, the fans are welcoming, despite the fact that Levi doesn't have a single scholarship offer beyond Penn State. You get the benefit of the doubt when your big brother proves everybody wrong.
This does seem like a good move. Everyone in the Norwood family is a great athlete from father, Brian, to brother Gabe, who played basketball for George Mason and is now playing professionally overseas.
Meanwhile, Jordan is making his way into the Cleveland Browns' receiver's rotation.
So Levi, who is a couple of inches taller than Jordan, seems like a good bet for success. And since he is young for his grade in school, he figures to grayshirt, meaning that he will postpone his enrollment.
Which also means that his scholarship will not count against this small class that is being put together now.
Know that the Penn State coaches realize, quite well, what they have in another Norwood.
It's safe to say that these guys are upholding the student-athlete title:
Penn State kick snapper Andrew Pitz, center Stefen Wisniewski and punter Jeremy Boone all earned 4.0 grade point averages for the spring semester. Wisniewski is a student in the Schreyer Honors College.
Kicker Kevin Kelly, who graduated in May, also earned a 4.0.
Defensive end Kevion Latham and linebacker Nate Stupar also did quite well in the classroom, both posting 3.85 GPAs.
And consider that Penn State's 78 percent graduation success rate was No. 2 in the nation among teams ranked in the final 2008 Associated Press poll, easily above the national average of 67 percent. Texas Tech (79 percent) was the only team with a higher GSR.
