Blue White Illustrated

t least they got Sunday o7. Well, sort of. Just a day a8er spring practice con- cluded on Saturday, April 18, some mem- bers of Penn State's coaching sta7 were readying for their Monday morning travels, as the spring evaluation period is now under way. Some even got a head start Sunday night. A8er all, they were already behind. The NCAA allows coaches to be on the road from April 15 to May 31, a7ording them an opportunity to collect information about potential recruiting prospects, both academically and athletically, as part of the 168 allowable days for a coaching sta7 to scour the country and identify the next members of a recruiting class. Some PSU coaches started their duties 6rst thing Monday morning, April 20 (evaluation visits are prohibited on Sundays), while defensive coordinator Bob Shoop began his road trip April 23. Josh Gattis even made a quick trip to Philadelphia the day before the Blue-White Game. As soon as the game 6nished, though, Shoop began turning his attention to the next task at hand. "In this period you're allowed two eval- uations," he explained. "You're allowed academic and athletic evaluations, so it's our opportunity to get out and visit with the coaches, get to know the players. Maybe watch them in the weight room, watch them on the practice 6eld, or watch them in a baseball game, watch them in a track meet or something like that. Gather their transcripts, get their academic in- formation, just 6nd out as much infor- mation about a player as you can. That's really what April 15 through May 31 is about: gathering information and setting your recruiting board." According to the NCAA bylaws, an "au- thorized o7-campus recruiter" is eligible to use one visit per student-athlete in the Class of 2016 to evaluate him athletically, and then another visit can be used to eval- uate his academic standing. If, for example, Shoop were to use a visit to evaluate both athletics and academics on the same day, the bylaws stipulate that the program will be "charged with the use of an academics evaluation only and shall be permitted to conduct a second athletics evaluation" on a di7erent day. Penn State has already extended o7ers to the majority of its top targets in the 2016 class, many of whom are within a 350-mile radius of State College. So ini- tially, coaches will use this period to strengthen relationships that have already been formed with certain prospects, while also identifying their strengths and weak- nesses both on the 6eld and in the class- room. "We have got some o7ers out, obviously, and we're trying to not just 6ll holes, but to build depth," Shoop said. "We've got some players in our footprint, our region, who we've targeted and were looking for- ward to [seeing]." For head coach James Franklin, who pri- oritizes recruiting as the lifeblood of a successful football program, this is an ex- citing time of year. He's already signed two top-25 recruiting classes in his short tenure at Penn State, and he's aiming to continue adding to the haul in the future. His sta7's e7orts throughout the spring evaluation period will play a part in landing more highly rated recruits. "We want to get to the point where we have the most competitive practices in the country with a three-deep at every position [consisting of players who] are competing like crazy to take each other's jobs and make each other better," Franklin said a8er the Blue-White Game. "We're working really hard on that and we're working really hard on developing the players that we have. Right now, we're at a point where we're going to shi8 [focus]. Our coaches are going on the road Sunday and they will be on the road basically for the next month recruiting." Throughout that month, Shoop antici- pates that Penn State will continue its re- cent success on the recruiting trail. As of late April, the Nittany Lions had already earned verbal commitments from six prospects in the Class of 2016, with the latest coming from three-star defensive back Zechariah McPhearson. Penn State had the No. 13 recruiting class in the coun- try according to Rivals.com. If it's up to Shoop, they will continue adding to that total in the next few weeks. "I think a lot is going to happen between now and May 31," he said, "and hopefully we'll continue to build the 2016 class." ■ Evaluation period gives PSU chance to build | A

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