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was really important," he said. "Eventu- ally, I'm going to get to start playing col- lege football. I still have two years to go and I'm going to enjoy my junior and senior years, but I wanted to find a coach who I really connect with and really re- spect, and Coach Rahne is definitely that guy. The more I talked to him, whether it was online or on the phone or during these visits, I just felt like we really con- nected. "Then, to actually work with him at that camp, that was big. I honestly learned a lot that day, more than at most camps, so it just felt right. I think he's one of the best quarterback coaches in the nation, so I'm excited to get up there eventually and really learn from him even more." During the past year, Cli7ord totaled 11 scholarship o7ers. Among the schools that were pursuing him were Boston Col- lege, Kentucky, Louisville, Missouri, Northwestern, Pitt and West Virginia. In addition, he was receiving serious interest from all of the top Big Ten programs and Notre Dame. "My original plan was to wait and see what other schools o7er this season, but the more I thought about it, the situation at Penn State is just perfect for me," Cli7ord said. "I kind of grew up a fan of Penn State. I always enjoyed watching them and I actually went up to Penn State when I was in eighth grade for a youth camp. Ever since then, I always thought it would be a really cool school to go to, even if I wasn't playing football. "So, once I got that opportunity and I really thought about everything, I just knew that I'd be upset with myself if I let it slip by and someone else took that schol- arship. It's kind of like a dream come true for me. I couldn't let that opportunity slip by." ■ N ow that school is starting up across the nation, the 19 prospects in Penn State's Class of 2016 are just weeks away from beginning their senior sea- son of high school football. For each and every one of them, winning some sort of championship this season is, without a doubt, the top priority. Don't get me wrong, their girlfriends will also take precedence, but finishing off their final year in style has been on their minds for months now. Trust me on that one. Of course, academics are also high on the list, and for a few of those guys, this upcoming semester is going to be much more busy than they imagined a few months back. If you were like me in high school, you probably had three study halls, gym and some sort of wacky arts class that 6nal year. Both semesters were pretty easy, aside from those core classes. But at some schools, students are given the op- portunity to trade study halls for tough classes, and those extra credits enable them to graduate early. As of mid-August, four players in Penn State's recruiting class were set to do just that: o7ensive linemen Alex Geller- stedt and Connor McGovern, quarter- back Jake Zembiec and tight end Danny Dalton. O9en, a school can count its early en- rollees against the previous year's re- cruiting class. That won't be the case at Penn State in this recruiting cycle, be- cause it used all 25 scholarships last sea- son. But having those four players on campus this coming January will be im- portant, especially for Zembiec. Time will tell, of course, but the con- sensus seems to be that as long as he stays healthy, Christian Hackenberg will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft in 2016. Behind him, both Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens have impressed at times, but neither one was as highly touted com- ing out of high school as Zembiec will be. Getting him on campus next spring is going to be crucial to his develop- ment, and he is eager to begin that process. The opportunity for early playing time, he said, "is a big reason why I wanted to come to Penn State. I love the town, and the coaches are great. It's a great school, but when you look at how things project when I would be getting on campus, it's de6nitely an ideal situa- tion. At least, compared to some of the other schools I was considering. "That's one of the main reasons I de- cided to enroll early, too. If I'm going to have a chance to contribute early, I have to take advantage of those practices and get o7 to a good start academically. If I can do that, it's going to give me a huge advantage. I think it could really be a huge boost." For the other three prospects, the road to early playing time will likely be a bit more di8cult, but you can never under- estimate the importance of not just spring practice, but also the opportunity to acclimate more gradually to college life. By the time their classmates arrive in the summer, all four of these guys are going to be familiar with campus, famil- iar with the town and well on their way to not only receiving a Penn State de- gree, but also asserting themselves as contributors to the team. ■ Four future Lions see early enrollment as career booster

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