Blue White Illustrated

F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G Three four-star recruits select PSU Sickels, Breneman and Mahon join PSU's Class of 2013 BY RYAN SNYDER Blue White Illustrated W hen it comes to the cur- rent state of recruiting, Penn State is officially one of the hottest programs in the nation. Since receiving verbal commit- ments from quarterback Christian Hackenberg and defensive back Ross Douglas on Feb. 29, Bill O'Brien and his Nittany Lion coaching staff have kept the momentum going. On March 3, they picked up a commit- ment from Rivals100 defensive end Garrett Sickels. "I strongly believe in the values Coach [Joe] Paterno set forth," Sick- els said. "Winning games with great student-athletes, competing in all the different ways they do – I really love that, and I love that Coach O'Brien is going to keep that going. "I really want to be a part of the new era of Penn State football. All of the coaches who are still there, Coach [Bill] Kavanaugh, Coach [Ron] Vanderlinden and especially Coach [Larry] Johnson – I really had good relationships with them when I first met them. Every coach, I really had a bond with, and I really just want to be a part of it." Arguably the most talented prospect Penn State has landed so far – he's ranked 50th overall by Rivals.com and is No. 6 in New Jer- sey according to NJVarsity.com – the Little Silver native gave his dec- laration just three days after Hack- enberg and Douglas. He received 22 offers before ending his recruitment, shutting the door on top BCS pro- grams like Alabama, Florida, Geor- P E N N S T A T E C O M M I T M E N T S * NAME Adam Breneman Ross Douglas Christian Hackenberg Brendan Mahon Garrett Sickels * As of March 22 POS HT WT TE 6-5 Ath. QB OL TE 220 5-10 180 6-4 6-5 6-4 215 302 225 40 HOME – Camp Hill, Pa. 4.4 Avon, Ohio – – Fork Union, Va. Randolph, N.J. 4.7 Little Silver, N.J. TAKING CHARGE When Adam Breneman, the nation's No. 1 tight end prospect, picked Penn State, he told the crowd at Cedar Cliff High that he's going "help develop a really special recruiting class, Coach O'Brien's first recruiting class." Tim Owen gia, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Stanford. However, his commitment was just the beginning of one of Penn State's best recruiting weeks in recent mem- ory. Only six days later, on March 9, O'Brien and his staff received the news they had been waiting for, as the nation's No. 1 tight end, Adam Breneman of Cedar Cliff High in Camp Hill, Pa., verbally committed to Penn State over Notre Dame, Ohio State and Maryland. "I really realized Penn State was the right place for me after my visit," Breneman said. "When I was leaving a few weeks ago, Coach Johnson walked out with all of us and just said a few final words. He made a really good point by reminding us that right now is a really unique sit- uation at Penn State. "I've always been the kind of kid that doesn't follow the crowd. I want to be a leader, I want to be someone that people look up to. So being from central Pa., being from Penn State country, I felt like I really had the chance to do something really spe- cial at Penn State. I have the chance to help develop a really special recruiting class, Coach O'Brien's first recruiting class. "I also have the chance to be part of the healing process at Penn State right now, and that's the most important thing to me. The Penn State fans deserve to have things become much more positive again. What happened was really sad, real- ly terrible, so that just gives me the FOLLOW RECRUITING ONLINE Visit bwi.rivals.com for updated information about PSU's verbal scholarship offers and commitments. W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M A P R I L 1 1 , 2 0 1 2 11 chance to do something really spe- cial there, and I'm really excited to be part of it." Breneman made sure O'Brien heard the news a few hours before he told the public during a press conference at Cedar Cliff High

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