Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/242197
WHO'S LEFT? A look at who Franklin has offered since his arrival RYA N S N Y D E R | BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED KYLE GIBSON CB |6-0| 180 Seffner, Fla. Armwood GRANT HALEY CB | 5-10 | 180 Atlanta, Ga. Lovett AMANI ORUWARIYE CB | 6-1 | 185 Tampa, Fla. Gaither RYAN'S TAKE Gibson is a four-star prospect, per Rivals.com. He had scholarship offers from Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, Missouri and Michigan State. He's still committed to Vanderbilt, but has a strong relationship built with Franklin. It will be interesting to see if he's interested in following Franklin to PSU, a school he knows very little about. RYAN'S TAKE Haley, a three-star prospect, chose Vanderbilt on July 23 and is still committed to the Commodores, but he, too, appears to be on the verge of visiting other football programs. Many believe Georgia Tech is in a great position for Haley, while Maryland also appears to be making a push. Franklin, obviously, is hoping to get him on campus. RYAN'S TAKE A three-star prospect, Oruwariye picked Vanderbilt on Oct. 20 and he has not de-committed from the Commodores yet, but he is looking into visiting other schools. Penn State could end up getting one of his five official visits, but nothing has been scheduled yet outside of a visit to Vanderbilt Jan. 24. FIVE RECRUITS ENROLL EARLY Despite Penn State's coaching change from Bill O'Brien to James Franklin during winter break, five Class of 2014 recruits enrolled – as O'Brien had planned – in classes once the spring semester began Jan. 13. The list includes four high school recruits who graduated early to enroll at University Park and one junior college signee. The Nittany Lions welcome one quarterback, one offensive lineman, one wide receiver and a pair of defensive linemen for the start of the spring semester. Learn more here: TAROW BARNEY DT | 6-1 | 290 | Gainesville, Fla.| NW Mississippi C.C. After playing two seasons of junior college football, Barney has three seasons to play two. MICHAEL O'CONNOR QB | 6-4 | 226 | Ontario, Canada| IMG (Fla.) Academy JAHSON ROBERTSON DT | 6-3 | 286 Nashville, Tenn. Montgomery Bell Academy TRENT SHERFIELD FS | 6-1 | 184 Danville, Ill. Danville EMMANUEL SMITH S | 6-2 | 202 Murfreesboro, Tenn. Oakland MIKALE WILBON RB |5-8 | 191 Chicago, Ill. De La Salle J A N U A R Y RYAN'S TAKE Robertson is an underrated three-star prospect who has built a strong relationship with Franklin. But many believe he's on the verge of committing to Tennessee, despite holding an offer from PSU. With Thomas Holley flipping his commitment to Florida, however, we expect Franklin to make a major push with Robertson. RYAN'S TAKE Sherfield, who is a four-star prospect committed to Vandy, appears as if he'll open up his recruitment. Penn State is likely to get a visit if there is a scholarship available in the next week or two. He was a top performer at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge this past summer and is a natural free safety. RYAN'S TAKE Smith is looking into taking official visits to Ole Miss and Penn State. He'll also take an official visit to Vanderbilt Jan. 24. Along with Gibson and Sherfield, Smith is one of the top prospects in Vanderbilt's current class. Franklin also offered Smith's younger brother, Josh, a Class of 2015 four-star linebacker. RYAN'S TAKE Wilbon de-committed from Vanderbilt following Franklin's departure. He is currently looking into visiting other schools, with Nebraska being the program that is making the biggest push. PSU already has multiple running backs committed, so it'll be interesting to see if Franklin asks either current commits or Wilbon to greyshirt. 1 5 , 2 0 1 3 5 Following O'Brien's departure O'Connor briefly reconsidered his commitment to PSU, but after talking with Franklin the four-star prospect reaffirmed his status via Twitter. "100 percent committed to PSU," he wrote. "Wouldn't wanna be anywhere else in the country." DEANDRE THOMPKINS WR | 5-11 | 171 | Hubert, N.C.| Swansboro A four-star prospect, Thompkins amassed over 3,500 all-purpose yards during his junior and senior seasons. ANTOINE WHITE DT | 6-1 | 267 | Millville, N.J.| Millville White was named the South Jersey Times Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team all-conference three times in his career. CHASZ WRIGHT OT | 6-7 | 268 | Woodbridge, Va.| Milford (N.Y.) Academy Wright starred as a two-way player at C.D. Hylton (Va.) before attending Milford Academy for one season of prep school. B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M