Blue White Illustrated

P enn State's rise in the Big Ten hasn't gone unnoticed by recruits, as the coaching sta9 has added multiple commitments to both its 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes since the end of No- vember. While all 8ve of the recently committed prospects hold four- star rankings from Rivals.com, senior defensive tackle Fred Hansard was arguably the most notable addition. A native of Princeton, N.J., Hansard originally committed to Florida in August, but he and his family began to take a closer look at Penn State in October. He checked out the Nittany Lions on Nov. 5 when they played host to Iowa and then returned a few weeks later for an o:cial visit on the weekend of their regular-sea- son 8nale against Michigan State. By the time that visit was over, Hansard had switched his commitment to Penn State. A four-star prospect and member of the Rivals250, Hansard is the seventh-ranked defensive tackle in the country and the second-ranked player in New Jersey for the Class of 2017. While rankings don't always equate to production on the 8eld, the addition of a highly coveted defensive tackle is important, considering Penn State's recruiting struggles at the posi- tion the past few years. Hansard received an o9er in the summer of 2015 and took at least 8ve uno:cial visits to Happy Valley. Other notable schools that extended of- fers include Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Southern California, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin. Penn State added another highly cov- eted prospect to its Class of 2017 on Dec. 9 when it landed wide receiver Kahlee Hamler. Originally from Orchard Lake, Mich., Hamler transferred to IMG Acad- emy in Florida this past summer. He suf- fered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the 8rst game of the season, but that did- n't impact the sta9's pursuit, as Hamler was one of the Nittany Lions' top wide receiver targets in this year's class. Hamler had camped at Penn State in the summer of 2015 and attended a junior day in February. He made his o:cial visit in September for the game against Temple and later took o:cial visits to Michigan State (Sept. 24-25) and Oregon (Oct. 29- 30). In addition to the three schools he visited, Hamler held o9ers from many of New commitments bolster future Wave of four-star prospects to arrive as part of 2017, 2018 freshman classes | F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G For daily and breaking news updates on Penn State football recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com. NEW RECRUIT Hamler committed on Dec. 9. He took multiple vis- its over the past two years, including an of- ficial visit in Septem- ber. Photo courtesy of Rivals.com

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