Lasting impression
Nearly 100 recruits witnessed
PSU's storybook win over Michigan.
Here are some reactions
Steve Manuel
|
T
he sidelines before the Michigan
game were more jammed up than
the Park Avenue traffic after it.
Instead of bumper-to-bumper
gridlock, it was droves of high school recruits who were causing the congestion.
Eighty to 90 prospects, most of them accompanied by family members and/or
friends, squeezed into the tight perimeter
surrounding the southern third of Beaver
Stadium's field. It was elbow-to-elbow,
step-on-your-toes crowded, just as Penn
State had anticipated.
There was piped-in, pump-up pregame
music, too, along with chants emanating
from a swelling student section. Some of
the students welcomed recruits by name
as they walked through the stadium's tunnel. Even former Philadelphia Eagle Vince
Papale was there. (His son Vinny is a Class
of 2015 walk-on receiver candidate, but
don't hold your breath for "Invincible II.
")
It all contributed to the buzz and went
exactly according to plan for Bill O'Brien
and Penn State's coaching staff. … And
that was before the Nittany Lions won the
game in quadruple overtime after a comeback that was straight out of a Disney movie.
"It was just crazy," said Jason Cabinda,
a linebacker from Flemington, N.J., who
is verbally committed to Syracuse. "The
atmosphere, the music, the fans – everything about the game was really cool.
