Blue White Illustrated

looking elsewhere after the Sandusky scandal rocked the university. Both Pitt and Rutgers made a serious push for the three-star prospect, but after meeting with O'Brien and Roof during an official visit Jan. 14, Wartman de- cided to follow through on his original commitment to Penn State. "The thing about Coach O'Brien was just that he was so positive about the situation," Wartman said. "He's just kind of commanding, but it's a good thing. Just the way he talks, the way he sees things – it's real positive. "He's also been saying that he wants to try new things. He was saying that he wants to run this program similar to an NFL team, but at the college lev- el. I'm just really interested to see how this whole thing works out. I think things look good in the future." Wartman received 13 verbal offers, including offers from Boston College, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Pitts- burgh and Syracuse. He totaled 120 tackles his senior year, with six tack- les for loss, one sack, one forced fum- ble and an interception. In his career, Wartman totaled a school-record 303 tackles. He was an All-State selection at both tight end and linebacker by pafootballnews.com and will represent Pennsylvania in the Big 33 game this June. Wartman participated in the Of- fense-Defense All-American Bowl in late December. PHIL'S ANALYSISWartman played at tight end and linebacker his last two years at Valley View. He has the frame to grow to 235 pounds and is capable of playing both the Sam outside line- backer position, as well as an inside linebacker position at Penn State. Wartman reportedly has 4.55-second 40-yard speed. He takes good angles and always seems to be around the football. Expect him to redshirt his freshman year given the depth that Penn State returns at all three line- backer positions. Brent WILKERSON TE, 6-4, 245 Hyattsville, Md. DeMatha High Wilkerson was the second player to give Penn State a verbal commitment, With Penn State in transition, Ohio State and Michigan dominate the Big Ten recruiting scene THE BIG TWO BY PHIL GROSZ Blue White Illustrated consecutive year in which no more than two of its schools have been ranked in the top 20 nationally. Last year, Ohio State had the I country's eighth-ranked class. While the Buckeyes fared even better this year, finishing fourth according to Rivals.com, the only other Big Ten school to be considered worthy of top-20 recognition was Michi- gan, which finished seventh in the Rivals rankings. The prob- lem with the Big Ten's recruiting is that after Ohio State and Michigan, Nebras- ka was the league's highest finisher in 25th place. Purdue (32nd) was next, fol- lowed by Michigan State (39th), Iowa (41st) and Penn State (50th). 20 M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 2 f you are a Big Ten football fan, you have to be concerned about the league's recruiting. This is the third The Nittany Lions, as everyone SIGNING DAY BIG TEN 2012 THE knows, faced extraordinary circum- stances as they looked to hold their class together. The difficulties they en- dured in the months leading up to signing day stood in stark contrast to the start of the recruiting season, when everything seemed to be going Penn State's way. As of July 1, the Li- ons had received verbal com- mitments from eight four- star recruits: offensive line- man J.J. Denman, wide re- ceiver Eugene Lewis, offensive lineman Joey O'Connor, de- fensive back Armani Reeves, defensive lineman Jarron Jones, defensive lineman Jamil Pollard, tight end/de- fensive end Brent Wilkerson and linebacker Camren Williams. By signing day, only Lewis, Pollard and Wilkerson remained. The Lions also lost defensive lineman Tommy Schutt, who ended up joining Ohio State's class after committing to Penn State in August. And five-star defen- sive end Noah Spence, who was thought to be leaning Penn State's way, likewise chose Ohio State, a school he wasn't even considering at the begin- ning of his senior season. The Buckeyes got 24 verbal commit- ments and signed two five-star play- ers: Spence and defensive end Adol- phus Washington of Cincinnati. They also landed 14 four-star recruits and eight three-stars. Included on the list of four-star prospects are O'Connor, Reeves, running back Bri'onte Dunn of Canton, Ohio, and defensive end Se'Von Pittman of Canton, Ohio. Ohio State once again had success in its home state, landing 14 Ohio re- cruits, 10 of whom were either four- or five-star players. The Buckeyes' success came large- ly at Penn State's expense. Five play- ers who had initially committed to Penn State ended up backing out and signing with Ohio State. Making matters worse for the Lions, four of those players – O'Connor, Reeves, Schutt and Williams – were four-star recruits. Meanwhile, Michigan recruited 25 players and assembled a consensus top-10 class nationally. A big part of Brady Hoke's success stemmed from his ability to reach into Ohio and get recruits. Ten of the Wolverines' verbal commitments are from the Buckeye State, the best of whom are four-star defensive end Tom Strobel of Mentor, four-star defensive back Jarrod Wilson of Akron and three-star defensive end Chris Wormley of Toledo. The Wolverines also did an out- standing job recruiting their home state. Hoke landed nine players from Michigan, with four-star linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone of Detroit and four-star linebacker James Ross of Or- chard Lake leading the way. Wide receiver Amara Darboh of West Des Moines, Iowa, offensive lineman Erik Magnuson of Carlsbad, Calif., and de- fensive lineman Ondre Pipkins of Kansas announcing his plans on March 26 during the Lions' first junior day of the year. "I wasn't planning to commit when I went up there; I just wanted to check things out," he said. "But it just felt right when I talked to Coach Kenney and Coach Johnson and the rest of the staff. They showed me what they had to offer. I talked to my parents about it, and I told Coach Kenney I wanted to come to Penn State." Kenney was let go following O'Brien's appointment as head coach, and that move did give Wilkerson pause. After taking an official visit to Nebraska Jan. 7, he decided he needed to meet the Nittany Lions' new coaching staff be- fore reaffirming his commitment. At Penn State, he was able to meet his new position coach, John Strollo, and

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