Blue White Illustrated

CLASS OF 2017 NAME POS HT WT RATING HOME SCHOOL Damion Barber DE 6-3 245 ★★★ Harrisburg, Pa. Harrisburg Sean Clifford QB 6-2 197 ★★★★ Cincinnati, Ohio St. Xavier Yetur Matos DE 6-5 230 ★★★★ Fredericksburg, Va. Chancellor Dylan Rivers LB 6-3 220 ★★★ Stephens City, Va. Sherando CLASS OF 2018 NAME POS HT WT RATING HOME SCHOOL Micah Parsons DE 6-3 235 N/A Harrisburg, Pa. Central Dauphin * As of April 3 Lions making strong impression High-profile prospects visit University Park during spring practice T he 6rst few weeks of spring practice were a success for the Nittany Lion coaching sta7. Only time will tell how much the current roster has progressed, but it's already clear that Penn State has been able to make a major impression on a number of the prospects who headed to University Park in the past few weeks to watch spring drills. That 6rst weekend, March 18-19, saw the sta7 host about 10 prospects who could land an o7er down the road. The coaches also hosted four-star o7ensive lineman Robert Hainsey, who has held an o7er from Penn State for over a year now. Originally from Monroeville, Pa., the Class of 2017 prospect now attends IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., but it looks as though there's a good chance he will head back north to play in college. The Nittany Lions are believed to be the early favorites, but Notre Dame, Michigan and Michigan State have his attention. Pitt and Ohio State also can't be counted out. Penn State was also able to host two of Pittsburgh's top 2017 prospects on March 25 in four-star o7ensive lineman C.J. Thorpe of Central Catholic High and 6ve- star Clairton defensive back Lamont Wade. Thorpe is expected to visit Alabama, Auburn and Georgia in early April, but there are strong indications that Penn State is the team to beat. He's expected to return to campus for the Blue-White Game, so we'll be watching him closely for a commitment that weekend. As for Wade, he's not expected to make a decision anytime soon, but he has visited Penn State twice since February. We believe the Nittany Lions are in his top 6ve. O7ensive lineman Eric Douglas is an- other 2017 prospect who bears watching. A three-star player from Mallard Creek High in Charlotte, N.C., Douglas picked up an o7er from Penn State at the end of February and visited for the 6rst time on March 28. Since then, he's made it no secret that he's a big fan of both the football program and the school. "I had so much fun up there," Douglas said. "They're such a storied program. They have one of the coolest stadiums in college football. It's really big. I also really like their coaches. They're all good people. They also really care about academics up there. "They want to make sure that when you leave Penn State you're not just a better football player; they also want to make sure that you leave there a better person." The most important prospect who visited in March was Josh Kaindoh, a 6ve-star defensive end in the Class of 2017. Origi- nally from Baltimore, Kaindoh is attending IMG Academy in Florida and has had a di8cult time taking regular visits to his top schools. But he was home for spring break recently and took advantage of his proximity to check out Maryland on March 28 and Penn State the following day. Last summer Kaindoh called the Nittany Lions his favorites, but he's since backed o7 a bit, noting that he's simply become more comfortable with coaches at other schools. We expect head coach James Franklin and his sta7 to be contenders for Kaindoh throughout his recruitment, but it won't be easy, as he's being pursued by nearly all of college football's elite pro- grams. March 30 ended up being a big day for a few Class of 2018 prospects, as the staff extended verbal offers to offensive line- man Chris Bleich, who also plays at IMG Academy, as well as athlete Houston Grif- fith from Mt. Carmel in Chicago and de- VERBAL COMMITMENTS* F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G |

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