Blue White Illustrated

S hortly a:er his commitment to Penn State, BWI's Ryan Snyder caught up with tight end Danny Dalton of Marsh- 8eld, Mass. To learn more about his fu- ture plans and why Alabama was always a distant second on his list, read on. Why Penn State? You visited a few times, and ever since that rst trip, you made it clear that PSU was a school you really liked. Well, my second visit to Penn State came right a:er my trip to Alabama, so that worked out well. It gave me a great opportunity to really compare the two schools, and they were also the two schools I was really choosing from. One of the things that really separated PSU from every other school was the actual town of State College. If you're going to think of the perfect college town, not just for an athlete, but for any student, everything about State College is just great. I love that college town feeling. I love that everything is about Penn State. Also, when you couple that with the fact that I'm going to be playing for Penn State, in front of 100,000 people, plus playing in the Big Ten, against the best competition out there, it was an easy decision. Not to mention the edu- cation. The experience you have there is great, but the connections a:er school are something that you can't re- ally match at other schools. Finally, I have to hit on the family at- mosphere. Every school talks about that family feeling, and they do have that to some degree, but that vibe was di9erent at Penn State. Everyone is very close up there and I love that. Everyone on the sta9 coached together 'This wasn't a hard decision' I N T E R V I E W D A N N Y D A L T O N Alabama gave chase, but the tight end was sold on PSU PSUtixman@gmail.com www.PSUtixman.com Get your PSU Football Tickets at go t ti cke t s? k c i t t t e k man@g .PSUtixm www. at ootba Get yo k c i t t o gm .PSUtixman.com all ur s t s e k Gellerstedt hadn't picked up an o9er from Ohio State at the time of his com- mitment, but Urban Meyer and his sta9 were showing serious interest and may well have o9ered had he waited a few more months. He said he's looking forward to facing the Buckeyes in the years to come. "Everybody around me is de8nitely very supportive of my decision and very happy for me," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting to play [Ohio State] in the Big Ten East in a couple years. I'm really looking forward to squaring o9 against them, so it should be fun." Penn State was also able to add one of the region's most underrated tight ends in Danny Dalton of Marsh8eld, Mass. The 6-5, 230-pound three-star prospect had committed to Boston College in February, but it quickly became clear that he wasn't done picking up o9ers. The Nittany Lions showed so much interest that they were able to get him on campus on March 28. By the time he le:, he not only had a 8rm o9er from the sta9, but he also had a new No. 1 school. Dalton decommitted from Boston College two days later. One of the factors that prompted him to spend the next phase of his academic and athletic careers in State College was the town itself. "If you're going to think of the perfect college town, not just for an athlete, but for any student, everything about State College is just great," he said. "I love that college town feeling. I love that everything is about Penn State." Over the course of his recruitment, Dal- ton picked up 14 scholarships o9ers. Some of the most notable schools on his list were Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia. While his plans aren't set in stone, there's a good chance Dalton will be enroll at Penn State in January. He has already talked to the coaching sta9 and his guid- ance counselor at Marsh8eld about be- coming an early enrollee. "I'm working on that stu9 right now," he said. "If we can get that all squared away, that's de8nitely something I want to do. The coaches are on board with it, so I'm hoping we can make it work. I think that will really help me." ■ DALTON SEE DALTON PAGE 60

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