Blue White Illustrated

RAM TOUGH Schwan finished with 16.5 sacks last season, helping lead Central Dauphin to the Pennsylvania Class AAAA championship. offer from Penn State. He committed immediately. Lucas said the offer, which arrived Jan. 16, "kind of came out of nowhere." "I hadn't been talking to them for long," he said. "But once I got in con- tact with them, they just said that they're really interested and really liked my film. When they came down, they talked to me, my dad and my coach, and it just went really well. I'm really excited, really happy that I'm go- ing to get a chance to play for a great school like Penn State." Because the offer was extended af- ter Penn State's spring semester start- ed, Lucas will continue to take class- es at Worcester until he can enroll in the summer. In addition to Temple and Penn State, Lucas received verbal offers from Akron, Massachusetts and Old Dominion. He was named to the NEPSAC Class A All-New England team in 2011 after finishing his sen- ior season with 30 tackles and an in- terception. PHIL'S ANALYSIS A postgraduate player at Worcester Academy last fall, Lucas may be the top sleeper in this class. He has excellent size, and combines it with 4.4-second 40-yard speed. He ran several 4.35 times at combines in the summer of 2010. Bill Anderson in the NFL, plus he won a champi- onship while at LSU, so he's a winner and he knows what it takes to not only win in college, but be successful at the next level. I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to learn from this guy. I think he's going to make all of us bet- ter players." A four-star prospect with 2,546 passing yards and 38 touchdowns as a senior at Wyoming Valley West, Lewis had 18 verbal offers, including offers from Florida, Maryland, Michi- gan State, North Carolina State, Ore- gon, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Car- olina, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wis- consin. Lewis played for the West squad in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl. He was a first-team Class AAAA All-State selection by pafootball- news.com and The (Harrsburg) Patri- ot-News and will represent Pennsylva- nia in the Big 33 game in June. PHIL'S ANALYSIS Lewis is probably the best pure athlete in Penn State's class. He played mostly at quarterback in high school, but his 4.5-second 40-yard speed, 35-inch vertical leap and supe- rior hands make him a quality wide re- ceiver prospect. His hands may be his best physical asset. Expect Lewis to contribute as a freshman. Jordan LUCAS DB, 6-1, 195 Worcester, Mass. Worcester Academy Hours before he was set to enroll at Temple, Lucas received a scholarship W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Akeel LYNCH RB, 6-0, 205 Athol Springs, N.Y. St. Francis High With only two scholarship tailbacks on the roster heading into the 2012 season, Penn State needed to recruit a ball carrier. But as the recruiting process began to unfold, the top in- state running backs began choosing other schools like Iowa, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. So the coaching staff had to look else- where and turned to Lynch, a prom- ising player from the Buffalo suburbs who had committed to Boston College in July. As the Eagles spiraled to a 3-8 fin- ish, Lynch began fielding offers from Buffalo, Cincinnati, Duke, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Syracuse and even Oklahoma. He visited Iowa and consid- ered checking out Oklahoma because of its storied running back tradition. But before he ever made the trip, Lynch decided to finally end his re- cruitment. On the day of Joe Paterno's passing Jan. 22, the Canadian-born Lynch chose Penn State. "It was very unfor- tunate to hear Joe passed away," Lynch said. "[But] it just showed me how much football means to everyone down there. Not just football, but his style of football and how much he did for the school." As a senior, Lynch ran for a school- record 2,136 yards (9.5 yards per car- ry) and 25 touchdowns, including six touchdowns in one game. He was named New York's Gatorade Player of the Year, was a first-team All-Western New York running back and finished as runner-up for The Buffalo News' Player of the Year award. PHIL'S ANALYSIS Maybe the most under- rated member of Penn State's class, Lynch possesses 4.45-second or bet- ter 40-yard speed, runs with power be- tween the tackles and has the ability to get outside. With Penn State thin at tailback this coming season, Lynch has the poten- tial to rise as high as No. 2 on the depth chart as a freshman. When he steps onto campus, he'll automatical- ly be the Nittany Lions' No. 3 tailback behind Silas Redd and Curtis Dukes. POLLARD DT, 6-5, 280 Westville, N.J. West Deptford High Jamil Pollard's recruitment was unique. Af- ter receiving offers from Alabama, Boston College, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina and Rutgers, he chose the Nit- tany Lions in mid-April. Three months later, the offer was rescinded when Pa- terno and his staff learned that the prospect's classwork had slipped. But during the fall, Pollard took a more determined approach to his studies. He stayed after school for at least an hour a day, and by November, he had earned back his scholarship of- fer. M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 2 17

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