Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538407
5 4 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Penn State hasn't signed many players from Tennessee over the years, but three- star offensive tackle Jack Fuchs has a con- nection to the Nittany Lions. Fuchs is the son of Tennessee Titans assistant Scott Fuchs, who previously coached with current PSU offensive coor- dinator Andy Kotelnicki when both were on staff at Buffalo and Kansas. That's what led the Fuchs family to spend four days in State College in April. "Coach K's wife and my mom are best friends," Jack Fuchs said. "Of course, Coach K and my dad are really good friends, too, so my parents figured if we're going to go up there, we might as well make it a mini vacation." Though the Kotelnicki connection played a role, there was more to Fuchs' June 27 verbal commitment than that. A 6-foot-8, 295-pound prospect from Beech High in Hendersonville, Fuchs camped at Penn State in June 2024 and earned an offer from offensive line coach Phil Traut- wein this past Febru- ary. The staff had a good understanding of his athletic ability from camp, and his junior film confirmed his college potential. Fuchs also took official visits to Ken- tucky and Indiana and chose Penn State over the Wildcats. Rivals rates him the No. 48 offensive tackle nationally and No. 15 prospect in Tennessee. One key to Fuchs' commitment was his comfort level with the staff, particularly Trautwein and head coach James Franklin. "I think they're all really good," Fuchs said. "They're really committed to their teams and want to make sure their guys succeed and develop. With Coach Traut, he's had a lot of experience now. Honestly, I saw a lot of similarities between his style and my dad's style. I really like that." As for Franklin, Fuchs said, "I loved that he was around the whole time. When we were going through everything, he spent a ton of his time with the players and re- cruits." — Ryan Snyder Penn State's approach to recruiting specialists from the high school level has fluctuated in recent years with the rising prominence of the transfer portal. Still, the Nittany Lions have kept an eye out for talented prep kickers and punters. Following their final camp of the sum- mer, the staff watched as Irish specialist Adam McCann-Gibbs boomed kick after kick for Penn State special teams coor- dinator Justin Lustig. The Nittany Lions came away very impressed and extended an offer. On June 28, McCann-Gibbs an- nounced his commitment to PSU. New Penn State analyst Allen Tucker, who joined the program in May, made the original contact with McCann-Gibbs. During his previous stop at Troy, Tucker coached Irish kicker Paddy McAteer, who worked with Irish kicking coach Tadhg Leader. Leader is also McCann-Gibbs' kicking coach. McCann-Gibbs attends Abbey Gram- mar School in Newry, Northern Ireland. He has a background in soccer and Gaelic football and only took up American- style kicking in April 2024. He attended a Kohl's Kicking Training Camp in January and is now rated as the No. 22 kicker and No. 36 punter in the Kohl's 2026 rankings. The Nittany Lions will lose punter Riley Thompson after the 2025 season. They extended an offer to in-state specialist Harran Zureikat in June, but he commit- ted to Georgia. Penn State hasn't signed a scholarship high school specialist since inking Alex Bacchetta in the 2022 class. McCann-Gibbs told his hometown news- paper, the Newry Re- porter, that he was looking forward to hav- ing an opportunity to kick in front of a packed Beaver Stadium in the years to come. "Whenever people hear the name Penn State, they're blown away," he said. "I'd say a good few people know Penn State, even if they don't watch college football. "Over here, you're not used to it, be- cause your expectation as a young lad is, 'Hopefully I'll play in front of 12,000 people at Pairc Esler,'" McCann-Gibbs added, referring to a local Gaelic football stadium. "Then you're exposed to playing in front of 105,000 people every week. It'll be a challenging environment, I think, but the opportunity excites me." — Sean Fitz COMMITMENT PROFILE JACK FUCHS COMMITMENT PROFILE ADAM MCCANN-GIBBS Family Ties Play Role In Lineman's Commitment Irish Specialist Excited To Kick For Nittany Lions Jack Fuchs may lack some of the higher- end traits that Penn State has recruited along the offensive line, but he still has good linear speed, size and potential. The offense at Beech High doesn't accentu- ate a lineman's ability to move the way Penn State's offense will. It's reasonable to think there are traits we haven't seen because he's not been asked to execute certain blocks on film. While I don't like to differentiate be- tween tackle positions, Fuchs is likely a right tackle with some guard flexibility. At 6-foot-8, he doesn't have the natural leverage to play on the inside, and he's not a pass protector by style. However, players have been known to surprise us when they get to Penn State. — Thomas Frank Carr McCann-Gibbs is a very talented 17-year- old player from Ireland. He scored 106.3 points in punting, 114.15 points on kick- offs, and 11/15 points at a windy Spring Ranking Event in March 2025. McCann- Gibbs demonstrates D1 talent and has a lot of upside as a kicker who can also punt. McCann-Gibbs is very mature for his age. — KohlsKicking.com P L A Y E R E V A L U A T I O N P L A Y E R E V A L U A T I O N