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Assessing the Nittany Lions' recruiting needs on offense PHI L 'S CORNER many college football watchers was that it would take several years, maybe more than a decade, for Penn State's football program to recover from the harm that had been done. People couldn't help but wonder: How would the Nittany Lions' re- cruiting be affected? Would prospects still flock to University Park as they had for years under Joe Paterno? Those were not idle concerns. Not A only was Penn State facing the specter of the Sandusky scandal, but the university's lengthy coach- ing search – the one that resulted in Bill O'Brien's hiring on Jan. 6 – had given rise to speculation that the new coaching staff would have diffi- culty once it started work on the Class of 2013. Some said this would be the most difficult recruiting chal- lenge Penn State had faced in more than a decade. Given all that, one can't help but be impressed with what O'Brien has been able to accomplish so far. Fol- lowing Penn State's Junior Day event Feb. 18, which was attended by nearly 50 prospects, O'Brien and his staff have recruited a class that Rivals.com, Scout.com, ESPN and 247Sports have called one of the top 15 in the country. The Internet re- cruiting service that had Penn State ranked the highest at the end of May was Scout, which placed the Nittany Lions 13th nationally. There are still eight months to go before signing day arrives on Feb. 6, but Penn State fans have every rea- son to be encouraged by the team's success so far. Going into the 8 J U N E 2 8 , 2 0 1 2 fter the Jerry Sandusky scandal erupted last November, a gener- al consensus seemed to quickly take shape. The feeling among school's first advanced summer football camp June 2, O'Brien and his staff have been able to convince eight prospects to join the Nittany Lions' Class of 2013. Not only is that the largest number of verbal commitments Penn State has re- ceived for one particular recruiting class by June 1, but it's the first time the Lions have been able to land verbal commitments from at least three national top-100 prospects. Rvials.com ranks tight end Adam Breneman of Cedar Cliff High in Camp Hill, Pa., as the 22nd-best overall prospect in the country and the No. 1 tight end. In addition, de- fensive end Garrett Sickles of Red Bank Regional High in Little Silver, N.J., is ranked 50th overall, and de- fensive lineman Greg Webb of Tim- ber Creek High in Erial, N.J., is 78th. Of the eight prospects who have verbally committed to Penn State, six are rated by Rivals as four-star recruits and are ranked among the top 250 prospects in the country. In addition to Breneman, Sickles and Webb, the Nittany Lions' other four- star recruits are cornerback Ross Douglas (No. 242) of Avon, Ohio, quarterback Christian Hackenberg (No. 153) of Fork Union, Va., and of- fensive lineman Brendan Mahon (No. 190) of Randolph, N.J. All told, O'Brien and his staff have been able to recruit either the No. 1 or No. 2 tight end, quarterback, cor- nerback, defensive end and defen- sive tackle on their recruiting board for the Class of 2013. Breneman is the consensus No. 1 tight end in the country and was the No. 1 tight end on Penn State's wish list. Hackenberg is rated by Rivals as the No. 8 pro-style quarterback in the country and was also No. 1 on the Nittany Lions' board. Douglas was rated by BuckeyeGrove.com of the Rivals network as the ninth-best overall prospect in Ohio for the Class of 2013. He was No. 2 on the Lions' board at the cornerback posi- tion. Sickles is ranked by NJPreps.com as the No. 2 defensive end prospect in New Jersey, and Ri- vals lists him as the No. 2 weakside defensive end in the country. Mahon is ranked by NJPreps.com as one of the top five offensive line prospects in New Jersey for the Class of 2013. Rivals ranks him 21st in the country at offensive tackle. Webb, in addition to being ranked 78th overall nationally, is rated by Rivals as the country's sixth-best overall prospect at defen- sive tackle. Webb is the top-rated prospect in South Jersey this com- ing season. Last year, he totaled 111 tackles, 10 sacks and three forced fumbles. He is reported to have 4.8- second 40-yard speed. Breneman, Douglas, Hackenberg, Mahon, Sickles and Webb each have received verbal scholarship offers from at least 20 Football Bowl Sub- division schools. All have at least 10 offers from Top-25-caliber pro- grams. Despite the remarkable results O'Brien and his staff have gotten in the first four months of recruiting season, there is a lot of work to be done before anyone can claim that Penn State has had a hugely suc- cessful year. It now looks as though Penn State will have between 18 and 22 schol- arships to offer in its Class of 2013. The final number will depend on how many fifth-year seniors end up deciding to take their final year of eligibility next season. What follows is a position-by-posi- tion breakdown of Penn State's of- fensive needs as it continues to add players to the Class of 2013. In our next issue, which is set to be mailed June 28, I'll take a position-by-posi- tion look at the Lions' needs on de- fense. QUARTERBACK SCHOLARSHIPS 4: Matt McGloin (Sr./Sr.), Rob Bolden (Jr./Jr.), Paul Jones (Jr./So.) and Steven Bench (Fr./Fr.) OUTLOOK McGloin and Shane McGre- gor are departing after the upcom- ing season, and Bolden's future re- mains unclear. He has reportedly explored the possibility of transfer- ring, and even if he stays, he could end up using the redshirt season he still has available. Penn State will likely have three scholarship quarterbacks on its ac- tive roster in 2013 – Bench, Jones and Hackenberg – and it might have four if Bolden is available. If that does indeed turn out to be the case, the Nittany Lions will most likely hope to sign only one quarterback next February. That quarterback will be the one they've already re- cruited: Hackenberg. One solid indication that this plan is in place is the fact that O'Brien and his staff are already actively re- cruiting quarterbacks for the Class of 2014. The prospects at the top of Penn State's list appear to be Drew Barker of Conner High in Burling- ton, Ky., and Chandler Kincade of Blackhawk High in Beaver Falls, Pa. TOP PROSPECT Christian Hackenberg SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE 1 (Penn State already has a verbal commitment from Hackenberg.) RUNNING BACK SCHOLARSHIPS 7: Derek Day (Sr./Sr.), Michael Zordich (Sr./Sr.), Curtis Dukes (Sr./Jr.), Silas Redd (Jr./Jr.), Zach Zwinak (Jr./So.), Bill Belton (So./So.) and Akeel Lynch (Fr./Fr.) OUTLOOK Redd will be a senior in 2013, while Zordich is getting ready to play his final season this fall. That leaves only Belton, Dukes, Lynch and Redd at running back 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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