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job kick-starting an early relationship. From there, he became most comfortable with Phil Trautwein and Franklin. "There were two things for me," Shel- ton said. "Who wouldn't want to win a national championship for your home state? That was one thing for me, as well as really connecting with a bunch of their coaches. Coach Howle, Coach Trautwein and Coach Franklin all built good relationships with me. We really had a great connection, so I figured if I already knew what I wanted to do, why wait it out?" In the beginning of August, Shelton and his family made the trip to State College to check out campus and the surrounding area. It was his 6rst and only trip to Happy Valley, and it clearly le8 a strong impression. "I really liked it. I thought it was really nice," he said. "Even without the students there, from the people I did interact with, they were fun to talk with. I told some people that I was thinking about coming there, so they ended up telling me a lot of good stu7 about the area. I heard nothing but great things." Talley, who also holds a four-star rating, wrapped up his recruitment on his grand- mother's birthday, Sept. 8. Listed at 6-2, 220 pounds, he primarily played defen- sive end last season at Northeast High School but is expected to play the Sam outside linebacker position for the Nit- tany Lions. His recruitment came down to Penn State, Arizona State and Ten- nessee. Graduate assistant Deion Barnes, who previously coached Talley before joining Franklin's sta7, played a major role in his decision. "Obviously, I'm real close with Coach Barnes," Talley said. "I think everyone knows that I'm real close with Deion. He's like family." Talley went on to add, "I already liked Penn State a lot, so having him up there only helps everything. He's been taking me up there for years. Before he was part of their sta7, he already showed me where to eat up there and some other things around the town. I learned a lot about Penn State from him." In addition to Barnes, Talley has also become comfortable with regional re- cruiter Terry Smith and defensive coordi- nator/linebackers coach Brent Pry. "I like Coach Pry. He's a cool dude. Honestly, they're all real cool," Talley said. "One thing about their coaches is that we talk about so many other things than just football. I like it. I feel like I get to know them, but he's a real good coach, too." However, it wasn't all positive for Franklin and his sta7. This year's class, the Class of 2021, was still stuck at 13 players as of late September a8er the Lions missed out on a few of their top targets, including Rivals100 o7ensive tackle Nolan Rucci, who committed to Wisconsin on Sept. 8. Rucci is not only the son of former Penn State o7ensive lineman Todd Rucci, but his mother, Stacy, was an All-America 6eld hockey player at PSU. His brother Hayden just 6nished his redshirt freshman season with the Badgers. Just two weeks later, that miss was magni6ed when Penn State's other top o7ensive tackle prospect, Diego Pounds, made a late decision to pick North Car- olina over the Nittany Lions. According to sources, the Raleigh, N.C., resident had been leaning toward Penn State all sum- mer, but he earned an o7er from Mack Brown's sta7 on Aug. 4 and that compli- cated his decision. He went back and forth between the two schools and even- ARMS RACE Pribula received a dozen offers before choosing the Nittany Lions over Northwestern, Nebraska, Vir- ginia Tech and West Virginia, among other schools. Photo by Ryan Snyder

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