Blue White Illustrated

October 2015

Penn State Sports Magazine

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CLASS OF 2016 HOT LIST NAME POS HT WT RATING HOMETOWN SCHOOL Terrance Davis OG 6-4 310 ★★★★ Hyattsville, Md. DeMatha Brendan Ferns LB 6-2 222 ★★★★ St. Clairsville, Ohio St. Clairsville Jordan Fuller Ath. 6-2 190 ★★★★ Old Tappan, N.J. Old Tappan Damar Hamlin Saf. 6-1 179 ★★★★ Pittsburgh, Pa. Central Catholic Aaron Hansford LB 6-2 210 ★★★★ Washington, D.C. St. John's College High Lucas Niang OL 6-5 295 ★★★ New Canaan, Conn. New Canaan Tre Nixon WR 6-1 170 ★★★★ Viera, Fla. Viera JoeJuan Williams Saf. 6-3 196 ★★★★ Nashville, Tenn. Father Ryan * As of Sept. 20 times, but it wasn't just Ohio State and Penn State. I got to visit some really great schools. I would take a visit and fall in love with that school. Then, I'd take another visit and fall in love with that school. There are so many great things about each of the schools that I was real- ly considering at the end. Once I got to July though, and de+nitely into August, I knew that Penn State was my top school. I didn't really go back and forth with this over the past week or anything like that. But earlier in the process, yeah, de+nite- ly. In the spring and early summer, I was open to everything. I want to ask a bit more about Bob Shoop and Herb Hand and how much they impacted you. Do you think you would have ended up at PSU under any coaching sta*, or did the rela- tionship with those two and James Franklin really make a major impact on you? They were extremely important. I may have still ended up coming to Penn State, who knows, but they were really important. It really started with Coach Hand. He came out to my school all the time when I was a sophomore and junior. I became more and more comfortable with him and eventually, once they of- fered and invited me up on visits, I start- ed to really hit it o, with Coach Shoop. I would come up on these visits and go watch +lm with Coach Shoop for like three hours. We would bunker down in his o-ce and I would pick his mind on things. That was big. I always tell peo- ple, on the +eld, he's a genius. O, the +eld, he's a great guy. To build a rela- tionship with him and continue that over the next four years will be great. You had a knee injury last season, although it wasn't an ACL. I know you're back to 100 percent now, but I wanted to ask about that. You're not worried about that at all, right? Yeah, it's 100 percent now. I've been cleared now and I was just at the doctor the other week to check up on how it's been holding up during practice. I'm playing both ways [this season], o,ense and defense, so I'm not worried about it. It was a patellar tendon reconstruction, which I had at the end of December, so a.er last season. It was a minor surgery, not an ACL or anything like that. Jim Bradley actually did it. He's Tommy's brother and the surgeon for the Steelers, so I'm all good now. You're coming to Penn State to play safety, correct? Correct. With Penn State, it's always been about safety. There were some oth- er schools that mentioned outside line- backer at times, but at Penn State, it's de+nitely safety, probably strong safety. Now, they do have di,erent packages that could see me come up closer to the line, maybe even play their hybrid posi- tion, but that's just in certain packages. I'll be focusing on safety. One thing that's always stood out to me when I've seen you play is your ability to read the )eld. You're always around the ball. Would you consider that to be one of your strengths? And what are maybe two or three things that you want to improve on before you enroll at Penn State? Yeah, I agree with you on the +eld vi- sion and my instincts. I've been playing football since I was 6 years old and I've been very fortunate to have my dad with me throughout. Doing drills with him over the years has really helped me with that. He was always coaching my teams, too. So, starting at an early age, I was able to begin picking up on the impor- tant things that allow you to have suc- cess on the +eld, and that's stuck with me for years now. Things like pursuit routes and reading the linemen when they pull and di,erent things like that allow you to have a lot of success and make a lot of tackles if you just know how to read a play. So that's a strength of mine. I would also say that tackling is a strength for me, but that's also some- thing that you always have to work on,

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