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S E P T E M B E R 2 6 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 12 RECRUITING Lions play host to several players in Class of 2017 Penn State hosted another small recruiting crowd for Saturday's game against San Diego State, but there were three notable Class of 2017 prospects in attendance, all of whom have already picked up ver- bal scholarship offers from James Franklin and his staff. The highest-ranked prospect was offensive lineman Micah Clark. The four-star player from St. John Vianney in Holmdel, N.J., is one of the Mid-Atlantic re- gion's top five offensive linemen for next year's class. He's earned additional offers from such pro- grams as Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. This weekend's visit is believed to be Clark's third to University Park. Defensive end Yetur Matos of Chancellor High School in Freder- icksburg, Va., was also in atten- dance. The four-star prospect picked up an offer from the staff in June and has now taken three un- official visits to University Park. Matos has yet to name any fa- vorites but has admitted that Penn State is one of several programs that are standing out. Linebacker Dylan Rivers of Stephens City, Va., also made the trip. The three-star prospect had been expected to attend last week- end's game against Rutgers but was forced to postpone at the last minute. This weekend's visit was his fourth to Penn State since Janu- ary. Rivers has already admitted that Virginia Tech and Penn State are his current favorites. –RYAN SNYDER N A T E   B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M HACK'S BACK PSU's star quarterback enjoys big game vs. Aztecs For Penn State's quarterback and wide receivers, the past two weeks against Buffalo and Rutgers were satisfying be- cause both weeks ended with wins. Less satisfying: the Nittany Lion pass- ing game, which completed a combined 24 passes out of 46 attempts for a total of 269 yards in those games. Those numbers helped put Penn State among the lowest of all FBS programs through the first three weeks of the sea- son, checking in at No. 119 of 127 teams. But the stat line was less important than the results. Said wide receiver Saeed Blacknall, "I look at it as, if we win the game, however ugly or bad, if you win, we're 1-0 for that week." Saturday aAernoon at Beaver Stadium against San Diego State, the Nittany Lions notched another 1-0 mark for the week- end. This time, though, the win was spurred on by a 21-of-35, 296-yard, three-touchdown day for quarterback Christian Hackenberg and his receivers. The unit was more than happy to make its mark, and maybe more important, to break out and show what it has thought itself ca- pable of the entire time. "It's a little bit of a sense of relief, but we knew what we were capable of for a long time," said wideout Chris Godwin following his five catch, 78-yard, one touchdown aAernoon. "It's just a matter of coming out and turning it into pro- duction, and we finally did that today." In total, Hackenberg was able to dis- tribute passes to seven receivers. For the first time this season, he consistently took shots downfield. In fact, except for tight end Mike Gesicki, all of those re- ceivers produced catches of at least 14 yards. That tally included Blacknall's 46- yard near touchdown down the sideline in the first quarter. Hackenberg said that al- though the running game produced just 72 yards on 34 carries, it helped set up the big passing plays. "Once you get the chains moving a lit- tle bit and you get a chunk play here or a chunk play there or a big run that springs for 20, that's when you see things really start to come together for us," Hacken- berg said. By halAime, Hackenberg had eclipsing his passing totals for the past two weeks, and his teammates were happy to see his success. "I thought Christian played a pretty great game," Godwin said. "As you guys all know, he's our offensive leader, and so to see him have the success that he had today was pretty awesome. For receivers to play a big part in that was pretty cool." DEEP THINKER Hackenberg en- joyed his best game of the season Satur- day, completing several long passes and fin- ishing with 296 yards and three touchdowns. Photo by Bill Anderson

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