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really rallied around the fact that I was just raised around all of the great things that Penn State football has to offer. I was teased about it out here, in a friend- ly way, and all the media coverage was negative and everything. I just kind of realized how great Penn State was for me. I wouldn't be on this earth if it weren't for Penn State football. It's how my parents met. So I really supported the guys I knew: Nyeem Wartman, Eric Shrive and those guys and kept in touch with them. Then after it became more of a realistic thing for me to leave, [Penn State] was the first place I looked. I no- ticed, again partially because of the sanctions numberswise, they were a lit- tle bit down. I figured it could be a good fit, keeping a helluva quarterback clean. Hack is an incredibly talented kid, and the defense is phenomenal and then ob- viously all the emotional things we talked about. There were multiple times when my family checked me and asked, "Hey, are you going to Penn State because of Dad or you think that's what we want?" I said, "Yes, all those things are a factor, but I also think it's the best situation for me anyway." Because of that, I didn't re- ally have any formal talks with [other colleges]. With a lot of people in my sit- uation, those things aren't figured out until after signing day anyway. No mat- ter how much they're interested or how much they wanted me, especially a pro- gram that is trying to re-establish depth and get numbers back up, it's hard to justify turning away a kid who can con- tribute for four or five years for a one- year guy like myself. I took enough fi- nance courses. Future value vs. present value – I get it. But what I really respected about Penn State's staff is that they were real up front with me about it. They told me about the situation as it was, and I was very comfortable with that. Like I said, how and when most grad transfers are handled, I was more than happy to really sit and wait and see if Penn State didn't work out. If it didn't work, I would have found somewhere. Coming from a great, reputable program, I have what I think is pretty good film both from the games that I [played] in and from practice going against the ones and twos [from] an in- credibly talented defense. I wouldn't have found much of an issue finding a spot, but it was great how it worked out, and it really sped up when [PSU] found out how the numbers worked out. I don't know why it all happened when it did happen, but as soon as they had the extra spots, they gave me one, and I'm thrilled about it. Take me back to that visit earlier this month. Was there anything new that you learned while you were up here? You're very familiar with the whole history of Penn State football, but what struck you about this new coaching staff? We have a really great rapport. We got along really, really well. I was the only guy there that weekend. Most of the of- fensive [players] were around at every meal or every event. I hate this phrase in recruiting, but they showed me love and all those kinds of things. That's one of the things I told them from the begin- ning. One of the reasons why I only talked to [PSU]: I didn't really like get- ting recruited out of high school. I don't really need a bunch of Division I coaches blowing smoke again. The first time I talked to them I said, "Look, I think Penn State is the best fit, it's where I want to be. If you offer me a spot, I'm taking it. If not, I'll look elsewhere." They appreciated the candor. That's one of the things that I told them before my visit: I can give the campus tour you're going to take me on. What I really want to do is sit down in the film room and talk system, and I want to talk about what you're doing and I want to talk about who you have there now. Coach Hand and I just worked the blackboard and X's and O's for about two hours and change. I guess the most important thing I learned [is that] they use jet protections – the same F O O T B A L L Franklin: PSU has two grants remaining After two years in which it had too few scholarships to award, Penn State had the opposite problem this year: too many. The repeal of the NCAA's sanc- tions against the program led to some uncertainly about how many scholar- ships the team could hand out this year. Shortly before signing day, the staff learned that it had 28. "We would have loved to have found out earlier," coach James Franklin said. "That would have been pretty valuable, but we were able to make some deci- sions at the end, and this does create some flexibility." The Nittany Lions signed a 25-player class this year, and they are also set to welcome Stanford transfer Kevin Reihner in May. That leaves them with two scholarships to be used at the coaches' discretion. "Whether that's for transfers, whether that's for guys today who did not sign, we still have some scholarships available," Franklin said on signing day. "So, if anybody knows of anybody out there who wants to get a world-class education, wants to play big-time football, wants to have a great relationship with their coaching staff and wants to be in an unbelievably supportive com- munity, with the best fan base in America, let us know. Because we still have a few spots available." Taking possible attrition into account, Franklin said the Lions will probably have between 78 and 82 scholarship players on their roster in 2015.

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