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earned more than 20 scholarship o>ers. Penn State's sta> showed considerable in- terest last spring before backing o> during the summer. He has since enjoyed an ex- cellent senior season and made some strides academically and has re-emerged as one of the sta>'s top targets. Miller called the atmosphere at Beaver Stadium during the Ohio State game "crazy." "I hadn't ever seen so many people like that in my life at a football game," he said. "Everything was great. The fans were showing me love. We were on the =eld before the game. Coach Franklin came up and hugged me. Coach [Sean] Spencer came up, and hugged me, and then they went back to the team." Miller is looking at seven schools. It's believed that Arizona State is Penn State's top competitor, but he's also considering Pitt, Purdue, Rutgers, Temple and Virginia Tech. He has also scheduled o?cial visits to three schools: Pitt (Dec. 5-7), Arizona State (Jan. 16-18) and Penn State (Jan. 23- 25). One of next year's elite prospects, =ve- star defensive tackle Rashan Gary of Para- mus, N.J., was also on hand for the Ohio State game. It was his =rst trip to Penn State since James Franklin was hired in January. Along with his teammate, Paramus Catholic defensive tackle Kwanii Figueroa, Gary took the opportunity to really check out the town, as well as the football pro- gram. "I got up there around 3 just to walk around the campus and look around," said the 6-4, 290-pound Gary. "I was there with my teammates Kwanii Figueroa and [2017 quarterback] Allan Walters. It was cool that the fans knew who I was and were talking to me. "I got a better feel for the new coaching sta> and I want to keep the relationship going and see if we can get closer," he added. "I liked how the players reacted to the new coaches that they brought in. I talked to Adam McLean and a lot of other players. I also talked to Matthew Burrell Jr. I felt like I got closer with the new sta> and that the program could be on a higher level in a couple of years than what it is right now." Don't forget about Figueroa. The coaches are still hoping to receive a commitment from either Christian Wilkins or Tim Settle, but Figueroa, a 6-2, 275-pound defensive tackle, has caught their eye. AAer spending three years at Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, he transferred to Paramus Catholic last spring and has seen his stock skyrocket. He's received early o>ers from Georgia Tech and UAB, and that list is likely to grow in the coming months, as Syracuse, Illinois, Boston College and Rutgers have been paying attention since seeing his midseason =lm. Settle and linebacker Ricky DeBerry were two top prospects who did not make the trip. They had both said in the weeks lead- ing up to the game that they were planning to be in attendance, but neither one showed up. There remains a chance that one or both will visit, o?cially or uno?cially. Neither Settle nor DeBerry has ruled out a trip to University Park. A number of noteworthy prospects vis- ited the following week when Penn State played Maryland. Although he wasn't the most highly ranked prospect in attendance, four-star wide receiver Trevon Diggs is a familiar name. The Class of 2016 prospect from The Avalon School in Gaithersburg, Md., is the younger brother of Stefon Diggs, the Maryland wide receiver who was involved in a pregame scu@e against Penn State that prompted the Big Ten to suspend him for the team's next game against Michigan State. For Trevon, who was sitting with Penn State's top visitors that day, it was a unique situation. But it doesn't impact his feelings toward either Maryland or Penn State, the two schools that are believed to be his early favorites. "I honestly didn't know what the =nal outcome was going to be before the game," he said. "Both teams are good teams. They came out and worked hard. Both teams had great players on each side, so I knew it was going to be a great game to watch. "It ended up being a dog=ght the whole way, and Maryland was able to pull it out. But Penn State is still a great team, just like Maryland. I like both of those schools a lot, but there's still a long way to go. I've got to see some other schools, too." Diggs made the trip with another one of Penn State's top targets next year, quar- terback Dwayne Haskins of the Bullis School in Potomac, Md. Haskins, who is the fifth-ranked pro-style quarterback in the nation according to Rivals.com, picked up an offer from the staff a few weeks ago, after Franklin attended one of his games. Haskins already has nearly 30 offers, so Penn State has a lot of com- petition. The Nittany Lions are waiting on a de- cision from one of their top quarterback targets in the Class of 2016, Jake Zembiec of Rochester, N.Y. The four-star prospect was believed to be leaning toward Michigan State but hadn't committed as of this writ- ing. He was thought to have Penn State in his top three, although he never formally announced the schools he was considering. AAer visiting University Park on the week- end of the Northwestern game earlier in the year, he went to East Lansing for the Spartans' game against Ohio State. What else has the sta> been up to these past few weeks? Assistants Ricky Rahne and Herb Hand have been hitting the junior college circuit in search of o>ensive tackles. One of the players they're pursuing is 6-8, 305-pound tackle Tyler Howell of Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kan. Howell's coaches believe he has the potential to play professionally. While the NFL is still a long way o>, a number of FBS schools are recruiting him, including Arizona State, Arkansas, Ken- tucky, Missouri and Ohio State. He's set to visit the Buckeyes and Sun Devils at the end of the month. Franklin and his sta> are hoping to get him on campus with one of his three remaining o?cial visits. In addition to Howell, the staff has rekindled its relationship with Paris Palmer of Lackawanna Community Col- lege in Scranton, Pa. A North Carolina native, Palmer committed to South Car- olina in March but has been having sec- ond thoughts with the Gamecocks strug- gling this season. He remains committed but is believed to be in the process of setting up an official visit to Penn State for its season finale against Michigan State. ■

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