Blue White Illustrated

BLUE-WHITE GAME PREVIEW | PENN STATE VS. HOUSTON ity was rendered moot. Though there's been no indication to date of a cover-up by the football program, the damage to its perception nationally has been undeniable. Al- most immediately after Sandusky was indicted, some pundits recom- mended shutting the program down completely until the smoke cleared. Others suggested that the situation was so toxic that Penn State was cer- tain to fall into a tailspin that would last a few years, at minimum. Six months have now passed since the Sandusky scandal gripped the en- tire country and round-the-clock sports-media news cycle. More details and revelations could be made public if and when the Sandusky case goes to trial this summer and when Louis Freeh releases the findings of the school's internal investigation, but the Penn State football program ap- pears to be relatively unscathed. With six Rivals250 recruits commit- ted to Penn State's class of 2013, head coach Bill O'Brien already has lined up as many four-star prospects as the Li- ons attracted in either of the past two recruiting classes. The school's Jun- ior Day in late February drew more than 50 top prospects, and more big commitments are expected. The speed with which the Lions have turned things around has sur- prised some recruiting experts. "I thought there would be a year that they're down," said Mike Farrell, Ri- vals.com's national recruiting ana- lyst. "You never know what will hap- pen, as we're still 11 months from sign- ing day. But the bottom line is that they had 50-plus kids on campus and now you have a dynamic, youngish head coach selling them the future. "That has not happened at Penn State in decades. That's your difference right there." Though the scandals affecting Penn State, Ohio State, Southern Cal, North Carolina and Miami differ in both cau- sation and scope, each school has managed to continue to enjoy success in one of the most important barom- eters of a program's health: recruiting. Even with a bowl ban looming this season, Ohio State secured the fourth- ranked recruiting class in the country according to Rivals.com. Likewise, Michigan (No. 7), Southern Cal (No. 8), Miami (No. 9), Auburn (No. 10), Ore- gon (No. 16) and Tennessee (No. 17) all were able to land highly ranked class- es in February. Is it possible that some of the top ath- letes in the country like the idea of re- suscitating a program with image is- sues, either real or perceived? Gary Ferman, publisher of Miami's Rivals.com site, CaneSport.com, sug- gested as much in examining the re- cent success Al Golden has experi- enced in rebuilding the Hurricanes. "I have found that to be true at Mi- ami," he said. "For some reason, kids are drawn to being part of a rebuild." For Adam Breneman, Rivals.com's No. 1-rated tight end and the No. 22- ranked overall prospect in the coun- try, that appears to be at least partial- ly the case. Breneman's offers list contained some of the most impressive football programs in the country, but he decid- ed to join three other four-star prospects – quarterback Christian Hackenberg, defensive end Garrett Sickels and athlete Ross Douglas – who had already bucked conventional wis- dom by selecting Penn State early in the process. A Penn State fan growing up, Bren- eman acknowledged his desire to help restore the Nittany Lions' image and tradition of excellence. "I have the chance to be part of the healing process at Penn State right now, and that's the most important thing to me," he said. "The Penn State fans deserve to have things become much more positive again. What hap- pened was really sad, really terrible, so that just gives me the chance to do something really special there, and I'm really excited to be part of it." Farrell said he understands the log- ic behind decisions like Breneman's, pointing out that players base their choices on a variety of factors. More- over, he said, the magnitude of the scandal doesn't matter to prospects. "People say it's different [at Penn State] because it's child sexual abuse, but in football terms, this is very similar to those situations at Miami and USC and UNC and Ohio State," he said. "What kids generally look at when a school is under investigation for a scandal is how it will affect them personally, how it will affect the foot- W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M ball program, and their chances to get to the NFL and their chances to win, as well. "The stadium still seats over 100,000 and will be full. They will still be on TV. And Penn State is still a national brand and will still turn out NFL players. None of that has been affected, and it hasn't been at USC or OSU or Miami either. "I just think from a football stand- point you can definitely compare them, and Penn State is in an even bet- ter situation than some of those oth- er schools because they're not going to get hit with NCAA sanctions." Southern Cal, a school that was cit- ed by the NCAA for a lack of institu- tional control, was handed a two- year bowl ban and lost 30 scholarships over the course of three seasons. Though the penalties were handed down in 2010, the Trojans have not felt much of a backlash in their recruiting. "For USC, it sort of stayed status quo," said Ryan Abraham, publisher of USCFootball.com. "I think the ap- peal of USC starts with pipeline to the NFL and success on the field on Sat- urdays. After the sanctions, [Lane] Kif- fin is showing USC can win again, so that hasn't changed and the NFL stuff hasn't changed. "There is some negative recruiting go- ing [because of the] sanctions, so that can be an obstacle. But with only 15 scholarships to hand out, some kids like the appeal that there won't be as many kids to compete against." Of course, Penn State has not suf- fered any penalties at the hands of the NCAA. And some sources predict the football program is highly unlikely to be reprimanded. Another factor that should not be overlooked is the work that O'Brien has done to restore relationships with high school coaches, fans and media. Intense but approachable, the Lions' new coach has infused the program with an energy that has helped to at- tract top prospects. While Paterno's iconic status was a boon to Penn State's recruiting efforts for many years, the veteran coach played a diminished role as he got old- er and became less mobile. Toward the end of his career he stopped making off-campus visits to prospects, and as he became less involved in the team's A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 1 2 27 recruiting, it became harder for Penn State to keep pace with its rivals. But that changed with O'Brien's appointment. "I always said that whenever Joe Pa- terno retired, Penn State would lose a legend but would gain in so many oth- er ways," Farrell said. "They couldn't have a junior day with 50 guys before. They couldn't have a head coach in the living room of prospects selling the pro- gram. Now they are able to do those things again." In O'Brien, Penn State has an ener- getic young head coach with a passion- ate set of assistant coaches, many of whom have national championship pedigrees. Though Penn State's former staff appears to have no real culpabil- ity in the scandal, the clean break that the university made when it hired O'Brien has helped it move forward. "Now there's a fresh start at Penn State. You've got a new coach, most- ly a new staff and a new Penn State, and that's what you need to sell," Far- rell said. "It's pretty easy to do when you have the right guy to do it. Now the commitments are starting to come in, and Hackenberg is the perfect first commitment for them here. Then you get Douglas and Breneman next. "That's where all the attention is go- ing to be. After we do all these stories about these big commitments, we're not going to be talking about the scandal at all."

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