Blue White Illustrated

W hile it's no secret that the Penn State coaching staff had shifted its recruiting focus toward the Class of 2016, what it's able to accom- plish over the next few months in order to fill up the Class of 2015 will likely play a major role in how this team performs in the future. Despite now having additional schol- arships for next year, it looks as if Penn State will add roughly five more prospects before signing day. With the staff looking at a group of top prospects to fill those final spots, who exactly the staff is able to land will play a major role in not only the potential of putting to- gether a top-10 recruiting class, but also how well Penn State will perform over the next four or five years. At least, that's been the case recently. Although Penn State should have much more momentum closing out this class, especially compared to what's taken place with the previous three re- cruiting cycles, past trends have shown that recruits who commit late in the process tend to have a major impact on the playing field. One look at Penn State's recent classes proves that their late additions have been key for the team. Earlier this year, current freshman defensive back Grant Haley switched his commitment to the Nittany Lions on Jan. 20, roughly two weeks before signing day. Now, after the first few games of the season, Haley is being recognized as the most promising young cornerback on Penn State's ros- ter. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the starting lineup by Novem- ber. For 2013, it was a bit different consid- ering that the class was limited to just 17 prospects, including early enrollees. That said, the second-to-last commit- ment came on Dec. 9, when Stafford, Va., wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton gave his commitment to Bill O'Brien. After his standout play so far this sea- son, I don't think there is much of a need to highlight how solid of a pickup he was. The trend doesn't end there, though. In both 2011 and '12, Penn State picked up key late additions who today com- prise the core of the defensive back- field. In January 2012, Penn State scoured the prep school ranks to find Jordan Lu- cas at Worcester Academy in Massa- chusetts. Before committing to PSU Jan. 12, it looked as if he'd end up at Akron, UMass, Old Dominion or Rutgers. Talk about some some great scouting by the previous staff. A year before that, it was Adrian Amos, once verbally committed to Con- necticut, who joined late in the process. He committed to Penn State on signing day following an offer from Larry John- son a week prior. If it wasn't for Randy Edsall leaving UConn for Maryland, however, Amos never would've signed with the Nittany Lions. Going forward in the Class of 2015, Penn State has higher-rated options than in previous years. Currently, most of the key prospects who the staff is monitoring to hopefully round out this class have earned a four-star ranking or better. So it wouldn't be a surprise if one of the final few additions goes on to become a star one day. That said, the opportunity to land these top- ranked prospects may have never been possible if O'Brien and some of Joe Pa- terno's assistants didn't put in over- time work after the season in order to identify a few diamonds in the rough. Watch for the trend to continue this winter. ■ Late additions make early impact tion. That all bodes well for the Nit- tany Lions in the end. JORDAN WHITEHEAD CB // Monaca, Pa. // Central Valley Whitehead is set to take an o9cial visit when Penn State hosts North- western Sept. 26-28. That will be his 8nal o9cial visit. He visited Pitt Aug. 29-31, Ohio State Sept. 5-7 and West Virginia Sept. 18-20 – all o9- cially. The fact that Franklin is going to get the last crack at Whitehead stands out. As we've seen many times in the past, the team that gets the coveted 8nal o9cial visit tends to have a very good chance of earning the commitment. As of this writing, I believe that Ohio State is Penn State's main com- petitor. I've been under the impres- sion that the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions have been neck-and-neck throughout his recruitment, so this could come down to the wire. If there's one thing I've learned over the past nine months, though, it's to never doubt Franklin and his assis- tants. CHRISTIAN WILKINS DT // Sueld, Conn. // Sueld Academy Fitzpatrick is without a doubt the No. 1 prospect on the current re- cruiting board, but I believe Wilkins is a close second. McLean is the only defensive tackle committed in the Class of 2015, and as I mentioned, Settle will most likely be forced to attend prep school or go the juco route before enrolling. Wilkins, a four-star, has narrowed his list to Boston College, Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Stanford. He's used one o9cial visit so far to see Stanford Sept. 12- 15. He will most likely use his other four o9cials to visit the remaining schools in his top six, except for Boston College since it's within driv- ing distance. It's still too early to project anything with Wilkins, but my contacts believe Penn State is currently in his top three. ■

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