Blue White Illustrated

R ecruiting, it's been said, isn't sim- ply about 4lling holes in your cur- rent roster; it's about anticipating future needs. For every Saquon Barkley who bursts onto the scene as a true freshman, there are three or four players who spend their 4rst season on the scout team, getting physically and men- tally ready for that moment when preparation meets opportunity. For many of those players, that moment won't occur until they've been in the program for two or three years, and for some even longer. With that in mind, we've turned our attention to the 2017 season and beyond to see how next year's recruiting class will 4t into the team's long-term out- look. There are some position groups, linebacker being chief among them, at which the Nittany Lions will be short- handed in 2017, and others, such as run- ning back, in which they will be ex- tremely well-stocked, barring injury. But for the most part, Penn State's re- cruiting priorities will be dictated by its needs in 2018, '19 and subsequent sea- sons. The numerical breakdowns listed be- low are based on the scholarship roster as we foresee it shaping up heading into the 2017 season. It includes current scholarship players who have freshman, sophomore or junior eligibility, as well as Class of 2016 recruits who are scheduled to arrive this summer. It does not include seniors who are set to grad- uate after the upcoming season, nor does it take into account potential posi- tion changes, of which there will un- doubtedly be a few – maybe more than a few – over the course of the next 18 months. QUARTERBACK PLAYERS ON 2017 ROSTER 3 PROJECTED SIGNEES 1 or 2 OUTLOOK Since their arrival at Penn State a little over two years ago, James Franklin and his sta5 have emphasized that they plan to take at least one quar- terback in each recruiting class. That will once again be the case in this cycle, as the Nittany Lions have already landed four-star prospect Sean Cli5ord of Cincinnati. Whether another QB joins Cli5ord is an open question. Since Joe Moorhead was hired as o5ensive coordinator, the Nittany Lions appear to have cooled on their other top target, Kasim Hill, who played at Gilman High in Baltimore last season but has since transferred to St. John's College High in Washington, D.C. We'll continue to monitor Hill, but he informed us in March that his contact with the sta5 had declined considerably. It's possible that the Nittany Lions have turned their attention to another prospect, but with two of the three quarterbacks on the current roster hold- ing freshman eligibility, they might sim- Assessing Lions' needs as 2017 class takes shape WELL-ARMED Clifford, who has already commit- ted to Penn State, may end up being the only quarterback in the Class of 2017. Photo courtesy of Rivals.com A N A L Y S I S B Y R Y A N S N Y D E R

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