Blue White Illustrated

ited Penn State in March. Clarke, a three-star prospect from T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., made the trip with his father on March 20. ���I talked to both Coach Johnson and Coach O���Brien today. I talked to both of them a lot,��� Clarke said while he was returning home from his visit. ���Both were great. They were saying that they���re really interested and that I have a great opportunity here. They think I would fit in with the team, that I���m the right kind of player on and off the field.��� For prospects who make visits this time of year, watching practice can be one of the more beneficial aspects of the trip. That was especially true for Clarke. ���I loved [Johnson���s] coaching style,��� he said. ���That���s one thing I really picked up on. He���s real energetic and you could tell the players love it. He knows how to get a lot done in a short amount of time. He���s a great coach.��� As for Walker, a four-star prospect from Bethel High School in Hampton, Va., BWI believes he���s currently the staff���s No. 1 target at defensive tackle. Like Clarke, he enjoyed watching the defensive line coach up close. ���The visit was great. Everything went real well,��� Walker said. ���We were there for their meetings at 7 a.m., so we took everything in. The defensive coordinator, Coach [John] Butler, he���s a real energetic guy. He has a plan and he expects a lot from his guys. ���We then went to practice, and that was also great to see. It was fastpaced. Everyone is getting reps, everyone is getting better, and that���s important. It makes a difference when you do get your chance to play.��� What happens if Penn State misses on its top prospects? P utting all your eggs in one basket may not be the best way to proceed when it comes to recruiting, but that���s what Penn State has been forced to do as it assembles the Class of 2014. The Nittany Lions have few scholarships to offer and need impact players who can step in immediately. Given the circumstances, nothing but the best will do. But anyone who knows recruiting knows that schools never get everything they want. Sometimes ��� well, most of the time ��� you have to find that next prospect when one of your top targets goes elsewhere. It���s pretty rare for any school to land a perfect recruiting class. As of this writing, Penn State was in great shape with such top prospects as Rivals100 offensive lineman Quenton Nelson and defensive back Dravon Henry. But if Bill O���Brien and his staff aren���t able to land those top players, this year���s recruiting class could take a very big hit. In years past, Penn State was able to hand out offers to ���second tier��� prospects. They weren���t at the very top of the list, but they were guys who were good enough to get the job done. When you have more than 20 scholarships to give out, you tend to sign a few project players. But this year, Penn State can���t afford to hand out offers to ���Plan B��� prospects because if some of those players were to immediately commit, the coaches wouldn���t have enough scholarships available to sign the players they want most. The staff is therefore forced to cut back on the attention it shows to anyone who isn���t considered a can���t-miss prospect. One prospect who may fit that description is Brady Taylor, an offensive lineman from Bishop Ready School in Columbus, Ohio. Taylor has received nine offers from midlevel programs, Kentucky being the top school on his list. Every year, there are a lot of players just like him, players who don���t attend camps and combines and don���t get high rankings from the recruiting sites, but who catch the eye of a coach somewhere along the way and eventually get an offer from a big school. For Penn State, these types of prospects may be the hardest ones to recruit. ���I have heard a lot from Penn State, actually,��� Taylor said. ���I have been talking to Coach [Charlie] Fisher for a few months. He���s a good guy, sends me a handwritten letter about once a week. I am definitely interested in PSU and the Big Ten. ���But at this point, I���m only visiting schools that have offered or that I think will offer. I���m not really sure where I stand with Penn State.��� There are plenty of prospects out there who are in the same position. And to be fair, it���s hard to blame someone with multiple offers from other schools for declining to visit a school that hasn���t shown the same interest. But what happens if the majority of those second-tier guys ��� players who have multiple Football Bowl Subdivision offers but may not be top-100 prospects ��� decide to not give Penn State a look? That could be an issue down the road. Penn State can���t afford to hand out scholarship offers to players who are not at the top of its recruiting board. But with all of the focus on those top 25 guys, there���s a very good chance the second-tier prospects will not be interested in receiving late interest from Penn State, forcing O���Brien and his staff to eventually go for guys they would prefer not to recruit given the small size of the recruiting class.

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