Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/325716
nstead of wearing a collared shirt underneath his black suit jacket for the Coaches Caravan stop at the Valley Forge Casino, Cael Sander- son donned a dark gray T-shirt. Across the chest, in navy lettering, the shirt read "DOMINATE THE STATE." Sound familiar? It's the recruiting philosophy James Franklin espoused during his January in- troduction, and although he's slightly backed o. the proclamation in recent months, it's become a mantra around State College. Hence Sanderson's T- shirt. Over in the Lorenzo Wrestling Com- plex, however, Sanderson and his sta. have been trying to abide by that plan for the past -ve years. So while the slo- gan might be new, the strategy isn't. Not that the Nittany Lions feel constrained by the borders of the Keystone State. In their most recent re- cruiting class alone, they hauled in ver- bal commitments from the top-ranked seniors in California (Nick Nevills) and Texas (Bo Nickal). Sanderson may prefer to build his team's foundation around in-state standouts, but he's willing to go anywhere to grab the best talent. So once Franklin saw the shirt that Sanderson was wearing, he laughed and said, "I'm going to get a Cael Sanderson shirt with 'Dominate the Universe' on it, because that's what he's been doing." The two coaches have gone out to din- ner a few times since Franklin's hiring, and they got to know each other even better while traveling together on the Caravan bus. "I'm sure it gets a little annoying be- cause he's always got people trying to pick his brain and steal his time," Sanderson said of Franklin. "But [the Caravan] is a good opportunity for me." "Stealing some ideas or thoughts from me?" Franklin later responded, some- what surprised. "I thought that's what I was doing with him on the bus ride down." If the media availability before the King I WHITE COLLAR Despite losing two national champions, Sanderson is excited about Penn State's potential this coming season. Said the coach, "We're going to be pretty darn good again this year." Photo by Bill Anderson Q&A