I needed to go on so that I could see
everything. I felt like the school was a
good fit for me with their academics and
the football part of things. The teammates
are great, and I feel like I fit in with the
team. I know some of the recruits and
some of the commits. They're all great
guys, and so we felt like this was the
right time. We've already been every-
where, and hopefully I can help bring
other people in."
Taylor suffered a knee injury before his
senior season at St. Cristopher's School,
tearing an anterior cruciate ligament.
Even so, he's the highest-ranked prospect
in Penn State's class. Rivals.com considers
him to be the 86th overall prospect in
the Class of 2015, and he also is the
eighth-ranked cornerback in the nation
and the fourth-ranked prospect in Vir-
ginia.
Looking even further ahead, Penn State's
Class of 2016 gained a valuable addition
in four-star quarterback prospect Jake
Zembiec of Rochester, N.Y. Arguably the
sta>'s top quarterback target in the current
junior class, the 6-2, 205-pounder sent
mixed signals in the weeks leading up to
his uno?cial visit for the Michigan State
game. In fact, many believed he was leaning
toward the Spartans, but once he got on
campus that morning, he committed to
the sta> almost immediately.
"We met with Coach Franklin before
he went out on the field for warm-ups,"
said Zembiec, who attends St. Thomas
Aquinas. "We really just talked, caught
up a little bit, asked some questions, and
that's when I told him I was ready to go
there. I just told him that I believe in
him, believe in what they're trying to do
there. I want to go there, help them figure
things out and take Penn State back to
the top."
Zembiec is currently a member of the
2016 Rivals250, coming in 200th overall.
Rivals.com also rates him sixth nationally
among pro-style quarterbacks, but that
categorization does not necessarily re=ect
the full range of his talents. Zembiec has
proven on multiple occasions that he can
move outside of the pocket, making him
an ideal ensive coordinator John
Donovan's system.
■
Lions use finale to bolster
2015, '16 recruiting classes
T
he Michigan State game didn't
end the way Penn State fans
might have hoped, as the Spar-
tans left Beaver Stadium with a
34-10 victory. But away from the field,
there were plenty of positive devel-
opments for the Nittany Lions coming
out of the final weekend of the regular
season.
Not only did the Lions receive verbal
commitments from senior cornerback
Garrett Taylor and junior quarterback
Jake Zembiec, they also made progress
with several of their top targets in the
2015 and '16 recruiting classes.
One of those players is defensive
tackle Christian Wilkins, a four-star
prospect from Suffield Academy in
Suffield, Conn. Although he has yet
to publicly comment on the visit,
sources close to both Wilkins and the
Nittany Lion coaching staff have in-
dicated that Penn State is the favorite
to sign the senior prospect, who is
rated by Rivals.com as the nation's No.
58 overall player. Following the trip to
Penn State, Wilkins also took official
visits to both Boston College and Ohio
State. The fact that he didn't commit
to the Buckeyes while in Columbus
Dec. 12-14 is noteworthy, as they are
believed to be Penn State's top com-
petitors.
Wilkins has now taken all er from the sta> on Nov. 29. The
6-foot-2, 197-pound three-star
prospect elected to take an uno?cial
visit for the Michigan State game. That
worked well for Penn State's coaches,
as they now are hoping to get him back
on campus for an o?cial visit Jan. 23-
25.
"It was really impressive," Petrishen
said. "I love the stadium. I like it a lot.
Everyone said the student section was
down a little bit because of [Thanks-
giving] break, but it still seemed pretty
crazy to me."
Petrishen and his family welcomed
defensive coordinator Bob Shoop for
an in-home visit on Dec. 3.
During the weekend of the Michigan
State game, Penn State also hosted a
few of its top targets in the Class of
2016. One of the top-ranked prospects
in attendance was o>ensive tackle Clark
Yarbrough of Woodberry Forest School
in Woodberry, Va.
"They definitely separated them-
selves from a lot of other schools,"
Yarbrough said. "I have a long way to
go, but I was impressed with a lot of
things. I look forward to getting to
know them more."
Yarbrough has already earned 25 ver-
bal scholarship offers, including offers
from such programs as Arkansas,
Clemson, Florida, Michigan, Oklaho-
ma, South Carolina, Tennessee and
Virginia Tech. He added that the at-
tention the staff paid to him during
his visit to University Park was beyond
anything he experienced at the other
schools he visited.
"I definitely felt like the coaching
staff made me a priority," he said.
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