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NAME POS HT WT RATING HOME SCHOOL Sean Clifford QB 6-2 197 ★★★★ Cincinnati, Ohio St. Xavier Dylan Rivers LB 6-3 220 ★★★ Stephens City, Va. Sherando * As of Feb. 14 Coaching sta focuses on future Nittany Lions eyeing prospects in next two recruiting classes P enn State may have only recently wrapped up work on its Class of 2016, but it's never too early to start looking ahead when it comes to recruiting. Just ask James Franklin. Because the Nittany Lions' most recent class was nearly complete heading into the 2015 season, Franklin and his assis- tants were able to get a head start on the competition this past fall. It's a major reason why the staff has already been able to extend more than 80 verbal schol- arship offers to prospects in the Class of 2017. In addition, Penn State is o4 to an ex- cellent start with a handful of the region's top Class of 2018 prospects. One of those players is run- ning back Ricky Slade, who visited University Park on Feb. 13. With more than 20 scholarship o4ers already, including one from the Nit- tany Lions, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound back from C.D. Hylton High in Wood- bridge, Va., has clearly shown that he could even- tually become a 3ve-star prospect. His potential is even more evident when you look at the other programs that have already extended o4ers: Clemson, Florida, Michigan State, 2017 VERBAL COMMITMENTS* F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G | RISING STAR Slade, who will be a junior this coming fall at C.D. Hylton, is already at- tracting atten- tion from some of the top pro- grams in the country. Photo courtesy of Ri- vals.com

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