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CAMP FROM PREVIOUS PAGE my grades and my character also played a big part. My coach speaks very highly about me, apparently. Coach O'Brien then was just saying that he looks for- ward to really getting to know me, that he really wants me to play there and that we'll be getting to know each other." Drew Barker, QB, Burlington, Ky., Conner High (2014): With six verbal offers already, Barker looks like one of the top quarterback prospects east of the Mississippi for 2014. He had a solid showing during the June 2 Advanced Skills Camp and actually took an unof- ficial visit with the coaching staff the day before. Penn State quar- terbacks coach Charlie Fisher is close friends with Barker's high school coach, James Trosper, so look for the staff to make a push for Barker throughout the fall. Quotable: "[The unofficial visit] went great. It really was awesome today. Right when I got here, I met with Coach Fisher, talked to him for about 20 minutes about how everything's been going this summer. Me and my family met with him, and it was the first time they got to meet him, so that went well. Coach Fisher is a great guy." D'Andre Payne, DB, Washing- ton, D.C., H.D. Woodson High (2014): With more than 25 verbal offers already, Payne looks like he could potentially be a five-star prospect in 2014. If that doesn't get you excited, then the fact that he attended both of Penn State's Advanced Skills Camps should. Payne is also close friends with Stephon Morris and Morris' father, who is a trainer in the D.C. area. He worked out during the first Advanced Skills Camp, but his visit during the June 16 camp was simply to hang out and visit the coaching staff. Quotable: "I enjoyed my [June 16] trip. After hanging out up there, I really like everything I saw. I don't have any top schools or anything right now, but I enjoyed myself and I'll probably be back for a game." 12 A U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 1 2 RYAN SNYDER O N R E C R U I T I N G Prospects forced to act fast as pace picks up Q uarterback Chandler Kincade of Beaver Falls, Pa., knows all too well how fast and fickle Division I recruiting has gotten during the past few years. After verbally committing to Pitts- burgh last November – almost two and a half years before he would actually have the opportunity to enroll – the Class of 2014 prospect is now basically starting over. Todd Graham and the Panthers coaching staff for which Kincade had intend- ed to play are now on the other side of the country, having left Pitts- burgh for Arizona State. Coaching changes have always been part of the game, but the grow- ing emphasis on aggressively recruiting underclassmen is a rela- tively new development, forcing both high school juniors and seniors to make decisions well before they're comfortable doing so. "I played on a ninth-grade high school team when I was in eighth grade," Kincade said. "After that year, I really had a lot of camps and combines contacting me. Same with those underclassman All-American games. That's what really got my name out there, I'd say." Nationally recognized recruiting analyst Mike Farrell agrees with Kincade when it comes to summer camps. The proliferation of websites like Rivals.com has given athletes a chance to shine at a younger age, forcing college coaches to pay atten- tion when they're tipped off about that next five-star prospect. "Everybody really started speeding up the process in the mid-2000s because of the competition of other schools to really recruit juniors," Farrell said. "As summer camps grew, whether it be a college-affiliat- ed camp or camps run by sites like Rivals.com, there was a lot more focus on the younger guys, and that, I think, really helped speed up the process about six months." MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS NATIONAL RECRUITING ANALYST "Over the past year, things have sped up incredibly. This year's pace is so far ahead of last year's pace, it's actually getting a bit ridiculous. ... [It's] basically the exact opposite of what the NCAA intended to do. " In hope of countering that acceler- ation, the NCAA passed a rule in June 2010 that prohibited schools from handing out written scholar- ship offers until August of a prospect's senior season. The change meant that schools could only make verbal offers. It was seen at the time as a way to slow down the rate at which schools handed out offers, but it has ended up hav- ing the opposite effect. "Over the past year, things have sped up incredibly," Farrell said. "This year's pace is so far ahead of last year's pace, it's actually getting a bit ridiculous. Now that kids can only get verbal offers until their sen- ior season, it's actually become much easier to offer prospects, and that has allowed players to commit even earlier, which is basically the exact opposite of what the NCAA intended to do." Those who follow national recruit- ing trends may feel as though Penn State is lagging behind, having amassed only 12 verbal commit- ments as of late June. But the Nit- tany Lions are actually ahead of their customary pace. Since 2005, they have averaged only five com- mitments heading into July. Still, with schools such as Michi- gan and Texas A&M already having received verbal commitments from more than 20 prospects apiece, the pace is quickening. And things are only going to get faster, because the schools that have sprinted out to a quick start this year are able to turn their attention to the Class of 2014. That, in turn, makes life all the more stressful for prospects such as Kincade. "I really didn't make a commit- ment to save a spot," he said. "It was more so because I just became really comfortable with Coach Gra- ham and everyone who was at Pitt. They were recruiting me pretty hard for a while, and I just thought it would be a good idea to get my decision over with, focus on high school and enjoy myself. That's kind of backfired on me now, but I'm not too worried about it. I'll check out a few schools this sum- mer, hopefully. Penn State, Michi- gan State and Stanford have been recruiting me pretty hard recently, so I hope to see those schools and also get to know the current Pitt staff a bit more. Then I'll hopefully be able to make a decision and stick with it." W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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