Blue White Illustrated

Then came the Jerry Sandusky scandal, but that didn't deter Pollard. On Dec. 29, almost two weeks before O'Brien was hired, he made his final decision. "Penn State will still be Penn State to me," he said on Jan. 3. Pollard is a two-time first-team All- Courier-Post selection as an offensive lineman. He also helped his Eagles win the South Jersey Group 2 champi- onship. In his junior and senior sea- sons, he finished with eight sacks and 97 tackles. PHIL'S ANALYSIS In my opinion, Pollard was one of the top two defensive tack- les in the Northeast last season. He has legit 5.0-second 40-yard speed, is physical and has excellent lateral mo- bility and a quick first step. Many be- lieve he could be a superb offensive guard at the college level. If Pollard is academically ready, I be- lieve he'll have an opportunity to make the three-deep depth chart at de- fensive tackle as a true freshman this coming fall. Evan SCHWAN DE, 6-6, 235 Harrisburg, Pa. Central Dauphin High Of all of the players who committed to Penn State in the wake of O'Brien's appointment as head coach, no one is likely to excite the Penn State faithful as much as Schwan. After missing almost his entire jun- ior season due to back and shoulder injuries, Schwan totaled 72 tackles and 16.5 sacks last season while leading the Rams to the Class AAAA state ti- tle. And yet he flew under the radar up until January, when he picked up late offers from Iowa, Connecticut and Rutgers. Schwan said the main reason he picked Penn State was because of its academic offerings – specifically its business school. "The Smeal School of Business is one of the top 20 business schools in the nation right now," he said. "That was just a huge reason. Like every college football player, I as- pire to play in the NFL, play on Sun- day afternoons. But the thing is, go- ing to college, you're investing in 18 M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 2 yourself. You have to get a great edu- cation, and that's what Penn State is. It's the perfect balance of football and education." Schwan plans to be a defensive end at Penn State, but the new coaching staff hasn't ruled out using him at the three-technique defensive tackle posi- tion, depending on how much he grows. He has been chosen to repre- sent Pennsylvania in the Big 33 game in June and was a first-team Class AAAA All-State selection by The (Har- risburg) Patriot-News and pafootball- news.com. PHIL'S ANALYSIS Schwan missed all but two quarters of his junior season at Central Dauphin with a torn labrum in his shoulder and cracked vertebrae. But he had a breakout senior season playing at weakside defensive end, fin- ishing the year with 16.5 sacks. Schwan has an excellent first step and reportedly possesses 4.6-second 40-yard speed. He also has a frame that appears capable of handling an- other 25 pounds. It wouldn't be sur- prising if he weighed about 260 pounds by his sophomore year at Penn State. He appears to have as big an upside as any member of this year's class. Anthony STANKO OL, 6-5, 302 Warren, Ohio Howland High On Oct. 30, 2010, Stanko visited Penn State for the Michigan game. It was the first time he experienced the game day atmosphere at Beaver Sta- dium. Almost four months later, Stanko be- came the first high school prospect to officially join Penn State's Class of 2012. He had received offers from Akron, Kent State, Northwestern, Stanford and West Virginia, but the memories of Beaver Stadium on that fall afternoon stayed with him. And in the end, they played a role in his choice of Penn State. "I went to that White Out game against Michigan," Stanko said on the day of his commitment. "That atmos- phere was in the back of my mind. I'm still thinking about that. It amazes me." WashingtonPreps.com A four-year starter for Howland, Stanko was the first sophomore ever to be invited to the Big 22 banquet in Ohio, and he was the only lineman to receive a Big 22 award for the 2011 season. As a senior playing multiple positions along the offensive line, he had 27 pan- cake blocks. He was voted to the All- Ohio team three years in a row as an offensive tackle and was selected to the first team for the 2011 season.Stanko is rated a three-star prospect by Rivals and has a 3.4 GPA. PHIL'S ANALYSIS Maybe the only pure of- fensive lineman Penn State recruited this year, Stanko looks as though he could play either guard or tackle at the college level. He has the frame to play at around 310 pounds and should really benefit from the new strength and conditioning program that Craig Fitzpatrick is putting together. Expect Stanko to play at the right tackle po- sition on the offensive line. He has 5.2- second 40-yard speed and reportedly benches close to 400 pounds. WARNER WR, 6-2, 200 Camas, Wash. Camas High Jonathan When Warner committed on Jan. 22, many fans were excited simply because W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M WILD WEST SHOW Warner, son of former Penn State great Curt Warner, had a big senior season at Camas High in Washington state, catching 48 passes for 715 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns.

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