Blue White Illustrated

great. He got an opportunity to learn what exactly I knew footballwise, and he said he was very impressed, especially because I latched onto his terminology so quickly. The defensive coordinator at my school is an ex-NFL player, and he's so knowl- edgeable and brings so much to the table. Everything [at Penn State] is generally the same, just with a little bit di0erent lingo from what I know at [Archbishop Wood]. Just being able to see all that stu0 was awesome, especially since it gives you such a head start coming in because you know exactly what he's talking about. You don't have to get down his lingo. You can learn everything else. I have a big foundation with that. That's something that stood out with me. You know, I've always been a Penn State guy. I grew up a Penn State fan, a huge Penn State fan. It's Linebacker U, and I've played linebacker my whole life. Having a chance to see Dan Connor and Paul Posluszny really is what sparked my passion for the sport. That's kinda what kicked o0 my dream. Having that kind of background, it just really made me think about Penn State a lot growing up as a kid. It was something that I had aspired to do one day, so I've always been pumped about the whole Penn State dream. I was so glad and fortunate to pick up the o0er. When I did, I couldn't really resist [making a commitment]. That being said, I did go and check out a couple schools. I went down to Duke [between the two recent visits to Uni- versity Park], and in the long run, Penn State was the place for me. Duke did throw me on a little spin. That's a good place. But when I really sat down and thought about what I wanted in a program, Penn State had all the in- tangibles. All the things that I wanted, Penn State has. I couldn't be happier with my decision. You had been so familiar with Penn State, especially with Bill O'Brien's sta'. You camped up here last sum- mer. Tell me about when you &rst met the new sta'. What was your &rst im- pression of Franklin, Shoop and Pry? I was very impressed. To be honest with you, I was a little worried when Coach O'Brien and Coach [John] Butler le1, because that, to me, signi/ed that I would have to rebuild a relationship, es- pecially since I had come so far with those coaches. I'd been [talking] with Coach O'Brien and Coach Butler for, I believe, almost a year. To be that close with a group of guys and have them leave worried me a little bit. I didn't really know Coach Franklin, Coach Shoop or Coach Pry too well, but when they were at Vanderbilt I was getting a little bit of interest from them. So I was pretty open to them. When they /rst came to my school, I was very impressed with them. I called them that night, got to talk on the phone with them for a little bit, got to see what they were about. Before I knew it, I was up there on campus sitting down with them with my dad. We really got a feel for what type of people they were. They are tremendous people. They are all very genuine people up there. They're family people, which I enjoy a lot. You're a per- son up there; you're not just a number to them. So I'm tremendously exited about this group of guys. You mentioned O'Brien and your re- lationship with Butler and how that's existed since almost this time last year. But if I'm not mistaken, they were waiting to extend an o'er, wait- ing to see how you developed. Once Franklin got on campus, he extended that o'er pretty quickly. What did that mean to you? That right there is something that I value a lot. Coach O'Brien and Coach Butler, in the long run, had been drawing it out and drawing it out. Coach Butler just really wanted to see my complete highlight /lm at the end of the year, and he was going to take it to Coach O'Brien. They ended up telling [Wood head coach Steve] Devlin that I was going to have an o0er in December, but then they ended up leaving, which was a shame. Then Coach Franklin came in and picked up right where they le1 o0 and pulled the trigger with an o0er. It really picked me up, and I knew that I was going to have the opportunity to play at a wonderful a place, so I was happy to pick up that o0er so quickly. It goes to show that they had faith in me and they think that I'm a great player. They wanted to reach out to me as fast as possible, wanted to signify to me that I'm high on their list. I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity. Obviously Penn State is putting a lot of emphasis on the in-state guys. You go to school with Ryan Bates. I just in- terviewed Saquon Barkley the other night. Ryan Buchholz is another guy from the Philadelphia area who com- mitted. What's your relationship been like with those guys? And do you plan to team up with them and maybe do a little bit of recruiting? For sure. Bates and I are very tight. We've been able to play three years of high school ball, three years of successful wining high school football with two state championships and three state /nal appearances. That's something that just stands alone by itself. It [creates] a bond that you have with your team, and with Ryan Bates personally. That's something really cool. To have him going to Penn State with me is just a tremendous thing, and I am very excited about it. At the same time, we each know how the other works. We've been hitting the recruiting thing pretty heavily. Especial- ly with Ryan Buchholz, as well. He was [already a member of Penn State's class] when I committed. We came together and sat down and we just said that we were going to go out and we were going be hungry and we were going to try to get these guys to open up to Penn State and see just ex- actly what Penn State has to o0er, which is a great deal of things. It can really bene/t you as a person, not only aca- demically but athletically. They have one of the greatest coaching sta0s in college football, so that's just going kick your game to the next level. Really, it provides such a wonderful opportunity. That alone will open up a guy's eyes to getting out to [visit]. ■

• Cover