Blue White Illustrated

| Now with a full allotment of scholarships, who will PSU target to fill the Class of '15? BWI examines nine potential prospects S imilar to the position it was in 12 months ago when the NCAA ;rst scaled back its sanctions against Penn State, the program ;nds itself in a unique position once again. With only four full months to go in this year's re- cruiting cycle, suddenly there are addi- tional scholarships to o=er potential prospects. Following the NCAA's decision on Sept. 8 to award the Nittany Lions their full allotment of 85 scholarships next year, James Franklin and his sta= now have the opportunity to sign a complete class of 25 players in February. Great news for the Nittany Lions, but there is a duality to it. It is forcing them to change their game plan two-thirds of the way through the recruiting cycle. For the past few months, the sta= was under the mindset that it would be able to sign roughly 20-22 players in the Class of 2015. As of this print, Penn State had 20 prospects verbally committed. Daiquan Kelly, a linebacker from Union City, N.J., became the ;rst prospect to verbally commit since scholarships were restored when he cial visit in the summer. How- ever, when it became clear that he'd have to take an o>cial visit in order to travel all the way to Pennsylvania, the contact somewhat trailed o= as the coaches shi?ed the majority of their focus toward prospects like Myles Harts;eld, who lat- er committed in June. Both Bob Shoop and Terry Smith occa- sionally checked in on Abernathy, though. Since they now have a few extra scholarships, the sta='s persistence could end up paying dividends. Abernathy recently put the Nittany Lions within his top five, which also in- cluded Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon and Tennessee. Abernathy took his first of- F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G Switching gears

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