Blue White Illustrated

W hen o9ensive tackle Bryce E9ner announced for Penn State on May 6, he became the third o9ensive lineman to verbally commit to the Nit- tany Lions in two weeks and the third overall in the Class of 2018. Choosing Penn State over Duke, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota and Syracuse, E9ner made the call just over one month a;er earning his scholarship o9er from the Lions. The Aurora, Ill., resident recently spoke to BWI's Tim Owen about how his recruitment played out a;er his 8rst visit to Penn State on March 21. BWI First, take me back through the past month or so. You visited, got the o9er and then sat on it for a little while before making a decision. Can you talk about what was happening during that time frame? EFFNER The 8rst Big Ten school to o9er me was Penn State, which, you know, is arguably the best in the Big Ten. That was super exciting. I just really, re- ally loved Penn State, but I put my emo- tions aside and was like, Bryce, I know you love this school but you can't just go with the 8rst one you see and say, yep, this one. I took a step back and was like, I have to [consider] other schools even if I love Penn State this much. I let that take its course, and when I felt comfort- able that I had talked with enough Big Ten schools or other schools in other conferences, I was comfortable with committing to Penn State. BWI You made your 8rst visit to Uni- versity Park in March. What were your initial impressions? EFFNER I was just amazed at the amount of detail that they put into the presentation of everything for me. I'll give you a little example. When I walked into the locker room, it wasn't just: Open the door, here's the locker room and I'm like, Wow, that's really cool. That's a Power Five, big-time school locker room. That's cool. No, no, no – that's not what happened. I start walking towards the locker room and the graduate assistant next to me goes, "Are you ready to see the locker room?" I'm like, yeah, what's going on? So he throws the door open with both hands. I walk in and I've got Coach [James] Franklin standing there. I've got another graduate assistant next to him, holding the No. 79 jersey. They've got all the lights dimmed down. Music is playing. All the LEDs are run- ning. TVs are on. Standing there they're like, "Welcome to Penn State!" I was just like, Holy crap! This is amazing. I was blown away. I didn't know what to say. That is cool. That always stuck with me. BWI You le; that day, but it wasn't until later that you got the o9er. Is that right? EFFNER Yep, I visited and then liter- ally the day a;er that, they o9ered me, which I thought was a little rude, be- cause I thought it would be cool to get an o9er on campus (laughs). But you know, whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. BWI When they did o9er, how did that conversation go? EFFNER Coach [Ricky] Rahne texted me saying that he wanted to FaceTime. I was like, whoa, FaceTime. Now that's a big deal. Then 8ve minutes later I've got my head coach running down to me. I'm in [a free period] in the lunch room just chilling with my friends and my head coach of varsity football comes running down the stairs and he's like, "Bryce!" I'm like, yeah Coach? He's like, "Coach Franklin wants to FaceTime you." I'm like, oh my God. Whoa. So I go into the athletic o:ce to FaceTime Coach Franklin. My coach pulls out his phone and tries to take a video of me, so I'm like, all right, I'm pretty sure I know what's about to happen. So I got on FaceTime with Coach Franklin, Coach [Matt] Limegrover and Coach Rahne. They were all just super – I just love their personalities. They're super outgo- ing, and we kind of match in a couple areas. Coach Franklin said, "I just really wanted to see you in person and I'm kind of mad we didn't do it in person, but we loved you at Penn State and we want to give you a full ride." I was like, man. There's a moment right there that I'll al- ways remember. BWI Then you waited a little over a month and weighed your options. When the time came, how did you tell the coaches? EFFNER I called Coach Rahne, and it's kind of a funny story. I said I wanted to commit and he was like, "OK." I said, that's all I get? You're kidding me. This is a huge deal and you're just going to give me an "all right" or an "OK"? He's like, "No, no, trust me. I'm excited, but I can't take your commitment. Coach Franklin is the only one who can take your com- mitment." Oh, OK. So Coach Rahne, while talking to me about how excited he is and what's going on, he's running around Happy Valley trying to 8nd Coach Franklin and he can't 8nd him. A;er 10 minutes, he gives the phone to Coach Limegrover and I'm talking to I N T E R V I E W B R Y C E E F F N E R I was amazed at the amount of detail they put into everything for me' '

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