Blue White Illustrated

While attending camp during his July visit, Elksnis ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.7 seconds and also turned in a broad jump of just under 10 feet. Both were impressive performances for his size and should only improve in the coming years. Recently, Elksnis spoke to BWI's Ryan Snyder about his recruitment. Here's what he had to say: BWI You picked up an offer from Penn State in April. What were your talks like with Tyler Bowen in the weeks and months that followed? Did you become close with him before you visited in July, or were you guys just talking off and on? ELKSNIS When he and I talked for the first time, that's when he let me know about the offer. That was before Sept. 1, so that meant that he couldn't reach out and text me. So when he and I got on the phone for the first time, he asked that we talk every Wednesday at 9 o'clock. We did that all the way up until I came and visited, so he and I kind of struck a relationship through those talks. Just a few weeks into that, I could tell that I was going to like him a lot, both as a person and as a coach. When he and I would talk, we'd talk a little bit about football, but for the majority of the time, it was about family and what I'm doing. So I always really liked that. We were al- ways talking about life more than foot- ball. BWI You visited in July for the ,rst time. You had already seen a number of schools before that, so what was it about Penn State that really stood out? ELKSNIS Well, what's funny about this is that, in the time leading up to me visiting Penn State, I had told myself that there's something special about Penn State. I just had a gut feeling about Penn State. I had never been up SIGHTSEEEING Elksnis and his family check out the scene at Beaver Stadium during their visit to University Park on the week- end of the Pitt game. It was the junior tight end's second trip to Penn State and his first since ver- bally committing in July. Photo by Ryan Snyder

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