P
enn State has already received about
half of its expected verbal commit-
ments for the Class of 2018. What's the
outlook moving forward? Here's a
breakdown:
QUARTERBACK When James Franklin
was hired in 2014, he made it clear that
his plan was to add a quarterback in
each class. That's exactly how things
have played out, as the Nittany Lions
signed Trace McSorley in Franklin's cient in 2018. Justin Shorter, ar-
guably the sta='s No. 1 overall target at
the position, had already committed, so
we expected the sta= to focus on a few
other top prospects. But then Penn State
extended additional scholarship o=ers to
Aron Cruickshank, Solomon Enis and
several others. Given that the Lions al-
ready are in good shape with Shaquon
Anderson-Butts, Daniel George and
Darryle Simmons, it's looking increas-
ingly likely that they will take three wide
receivers in this year's class.
TIGHT END The Lions have already re-
ceived commitments from the nation's
No. 1 and No. 2 tight end prospects in
Zack Kuntz and Patrick Freiermuth, so
it's fair to say they're in pretty good
shape here. We expect other programs to
continue pursuing both players, but to
date, neither one has given any indica-
tion that he's wavering.
OFFENSIVE LINE Penn State already
holds a commitment from three-star of-
fensive tackle Chris Bleich. When it
comes to interior players, the coaches
are no longer pursuing Blaine Scott, as
they've decided to shi? their focus to
Juice Scruggs. The Erie Cathedral Prep
prospect has already made it clear that
Penn State and Ohio State are standing
out, and his decision could go either
way. However, it's become evident that
tackle is the priority position, as Chris-
tian Armstrong, Nana Asiedu, Jaelyn
Duncan, Antwan Reed and Rasheed
Walker are all in frequent contact with
the sta=. All six of Penn State's top tar-
gets have visited campus, several of
them multiple times, so we expect the
sta= to earn at least two more commit-
ments from the players in that group.
Which two? That remains unclear.
DEFENSIVE LINE Penn State holds a
commitment from
