Blue White Illustrated

J ames Franklin and his staff have to be thrilled with the verbal com- mitments that Penn State received from defensive ends Damion Barber, Yetur Matos and Micah Parsons during the team's first junior day of the spring. Even though he hasn't yet received a star ranking from Rivals, Parsons looks to be a strong contender for a five-star ranking and could be the No. 1 prospect in Pennsylvania in 2018. Barber is rated a 5.7 three-star weakside defensive end in Rivals.com's Class of 2017 rankings, while Matos is a 5.8 four-star player and the eighth-best strongside DE in the country for the current recruit- ing cycle. With those three additions, it ap- pears that Penn State, at the very most, will only sign one more defen- sive end in its next recruiting class, and it wouldn't surprise me if Franklin and his staff were to decide down the road to recruit only one or two additional defensive ends in the Class of 2018 to complement Par- sons. By the time Barber and Matos ar- rive, Penn State could have as many as nine scholarship defensive ends on its roster, seven of whom would have two or more years of eligibility remaining. Of the uncommitted defensive ends who might seriously consider a Penn State offer, I think the coach- ing staff's top target will probably be Josh Kaindoh A 6-foot-5, 241-pound prospect from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., Kaindoh is ranked by Rivals as the No. 1 weakside defensive end in the country, the fourth-best overall prospect and Florida's No. 2 prospect in the Class of 2017. One other noteworthy high school senior-to-be is Elijah Conliffe, a 6- 4, 263-pounder from Hampton, Va. Conliffe is listed as a strongside de- fensive end, but I believe he could add 20 to 30 pounds and play at the three-technique defensive tackle spot at the college level. Another potential impact of the Lions' recent verbal commitments relates to the positions that 2016 signees Cameron Brown and Shaka Toney end up playing at Penn State. On signing day, Franklin and defen- sive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith made it clear that Brown would begin his Penn State career at the Sam outside linebacker position and that Toney would start out at the weakside defensive end spot, even though he is listed at 6-3, 200 pounds. Now that Penn State has received verbal commitments from Barber, Matos and Parsons, it wouldn't sur- prise me if Toney were to begin his Penn State career at the Sam posi- tion along with Brown. That would give the Lions seven scholarship linebackers in 2016. However, such a move would not change my opinion that the Lions need to recruit four linebackers in their next class. I definitely was surprised to see Penn State receive commitments from three prominent players on junior day. The commitments kick-started the classes of 2017 and '18, and if Franklin and his assistant coaches can con- vince a few more linebackers to join verbally committed LB Dylan Rivers in the coming weeks, it would be the perfect beginning for Penn State's 2017 recruiting efforts. had plenty of praise for the Nittany Lion coaching sta<. A native of Wilmington, Del., Roberts has taken several visits to State College during the past year, but he wasn't able to attend any games last sea- son. That's why it was so important to get him back in town for junior day, as he's one of the top ;ve linebackers in the mid-Atlantic region for 2017. "I had a good time and I'll be back soon," he said. "I haven't been up here in a while, so it was great getting a chance to catch up with Coach [Brent] Pry and Coach Franklin. Their message to me was that I'm a high priority for them and a player they really need. They love the way I play, and think I would be a perfect ;t in their defense." In addition to the top Class of 2017 prospects, Penn State also hosted six soph- omores who have already earned o

• Cover