Blue White Illustrated

o;ers from Pitt, Maryland, Temple and West Virginia. He's expected to be one of the top inside linebackers in the na- tion for 2017. A few other top 2017 prospects who were on hand included o;ensive line- man C.J. Thorpe of Pittsburgh, defen- sive tackle Dalyn Wade-Perry of Sparta, N.J., and wide receiver Mark Webb of Archbishop Wood in Warminster, Pa. The sta; has also identi:ed multiple Class of 2018 prospects, three of whom made the trip to University Park for the spring game. By now, defensive end Micah Parsons of Central Dauphin High in Harrisburg, Pa., should be familiar to most Penn State fans. Since picking up an o;er from the Nittany Lions late in the season, Parsons has received o;ers from Rutgers and North Carolina State. This most recent trip was his second visit to Penn State this spring. There were also two elite running backs in attendance in Ricky Slade and Jaelen Gill. Slade, who attends C.D. Hylton in Woodbridge, Va., picked up a PSU o;er in December. He holds 12 scholarship o;ers despite having played just one season of high school football. Some of the top schools that are pur- suing him are Clemson, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio State, South Car- olina, Tennessee and Virginia Tech. It was also Gill's :rst time in State College. The Westerville, Ohio, native holds four additional early o;ers from Kentucky, Pitt, Tennessee and Toledo. He made it clear that both the visit and o;er from Franklin and his sta; le< a strong impression on him. "I'm just really excited about my Penn State o;er," Gill said. "I really like them a lot. I knew that they were really interested, so I thought there was a possibility that it could happen." He went on to add, "I talked to Coach Franklin and Coach Terry Smith. I talked to Coach Franklin one-on-one and then Coach Smith later with my family. We talked for about :ve minutes, just going over the program and every- thing and how they are getting better and how it's a good school that can give me a good education." ■ S pring practice has wrapped up, but James Franklin and his coaching sta; can't a;ord to relax. During the six-week spring evaluation period, which continues through May 31, coaching sta;s are allowed be on the road for four weeks in order to see all of their top prospects work out. The prospects perform a variety of agility drills, while receivers and quarterbacks also catch and throw. As is always the case when they hit the road, Franklin and his assistants used the :rst week or so to check up on many of their top prospects. Among the players Penn State watched were defensive end Ron Johnson and wide receiver Brad Hawkins from Camden, N.J., tight end Nasier Upshur, defensive end Shaka Toney and defensive tackle Karamo Dioubate from Philadelphia, and o;ensive lineman Will Fries from Cranford, N.J. Why would the sta; watch players work out a

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