Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1400830
1 4 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 No. 1 Rivals.com ranking of Penn State's 2022 recruiting class for several days in early August, before dropping to No. 2 behind Notre Dame. Coach JAMES FRANKLIN'S Nittany Lions had lined up 24 verbal commitments with an average star rating of 3.58 per player. While the Lions had reason to celebrate after an impressive summer on the recruiting trail, they are all but certain to slip in the coming months as the likes of Alabama (14 commitments as of Aug. 9), Clemson (12 commitments) and LSU (15 commitments), among others, begin fill- ing up their classes. 1 i n 7 Proportion of college-educated Pennsylvanians who have a Penn State degree. The university has been looking to use the size of its alumni base, especially in the Northeast, to its advantage now that college athletes are allowed to seek endorsement deals and other moneymaking opportunities under the new Name, Im- age and Likeness (NIL) rules. 3.83 Grade-point average of the women's soccer team this past spring, best among Penn State's 31 pro- grams. Erica Dambach's squad was followed by the women's lacrosse (3.72), women's gymnastics (3.70) and women's golf (3.67) teams. On the men's side, Guy Gadowsky's ice hockey team had the highest team GPA with a 3.60. All 31 Penn State teams recorded at least a 3.1 GPA. Overall, Penn State student- athletes had a 3.49 semester GPA during the spring term. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State used an alternative grading system. The Nittany Lions had 107 students with a 4.0 semester GPA, 682 students with a 3.0 semester GPA and 299 Dean's List honorees (3.5 semester GPA) in the spring. 2 2 Athletes, coaches and medical staffers with Penn State ties who took part in the Tokyo Olympics. The 15 athletes in Penn State's Olympic delegation represented five countries: the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Japan and Egypt. Among the 15 was one cur- rent student-athlete: swimmer Gabe Castano, who represented Mexico in the 50-meter freestyle. The five coaches in PSU's contingent included one head coach: former Nittany Lion basketball star Tom Hovasse, who is in charge of Japan's women's basketball program. In its history, Penn State has had 118 Olympians (athletes and coaches). Heading into the Tokyo Games, PSU athletes had won 33 medals all time, including five gold medals. Excluding the 1980 Moscow Games that the United States boycotted, the university has been represented in every Summer Olympics since 1948. 50.5 Career field goal percentage of Jalanni White, a 6-foot-8 forward who transferred to Penn State from Canisius College in July. White played in 98 games in four seasons with the Golden Griffins, 50 of which he started. During his junior season, in which he started 30 games, White shot 54.2 percent from the floor, the eighth-best single-season mark in Canisius history. By The Numbers W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL