Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/775386
P enn State picked up its .rst .ve-star prospect since Christian Hacken- berg when defensive back Lamont Wade of Clairton, Pa., made his com- mitment to the Nittany Lions on Dec. 17. BWI's Ryan Snyder caught up with Wade's father, Carlton Wade, to talk about all the factors that went into the decision to join Penn State's Class of 2017. BWI When did Lamont know that Penn State was de.nitely the school he was going to attend? I know West Vir- ginia made a serious push late in the process, so when did he make his .nal decision? CARLTON WADE It pretty much came down to the last couple of days. He was going back and forth with Penn State and West Virginia over the past few weeks, and then we took that UCLA visit at the last minute. A0er that visit, [the Bruins] were also very appealing to us. But it pretty much came down to West Virginia and Penn State in the end. The fact that West Virginia is losing so many corners really had an impact on his decision, because he felt like that was an excellent chance for him to start right away. At Penn State, they have so many people coming back, so they can't guarantee that he'll start. But overall, we just believed that Penn State was a better situation. Be- tween the academics and location, that worked out well for him and our family. But he did legitimately go back and forth between the two over the .nal week or so. BWI Throughout the process, you've had a lot of praise for both Terry Smith and James Franklin. How important were those two? I know that Terry Smith has been there from the start and has be- come very close with Lamont. WADE Terry was very important to us. He's been there for a long time and he's been very honest with us the entire time. Whenever we would research stu/ that he tells us, it was always spot on, and that's so important in today's re- cruiting. A lot of coaches tell you stu/ just to tell you. When you research it, part of it's true, part of it isn't true, but that's never been the case with Terry. With Coach Franklin, we really believe I N T E R V I E W C A R L T O N W A D E We're looking forward to having a good time and winning some games' ' FAST RISER Wade committed to the Nittany Lions in De- cember and en- rolled earlier this month to get a head start on his career. Photo cour- tesy of Rivals.com