Blue White Illustrated

P enn State added three players to its Class of 2018 in April and early May, but the news wasn't all good, as the Nittany Lions also saw two prospects back out of their verbal com- mitments. Looking back, Blue-White weekend can only be labeled a success – Penn State hosted more than 100 prospects for its spring game – but it didn't start out the way the Lions were hoping, as three-star o4ensive tackle Chris Bleich an- nounced on April 21, the day before the game, that he would be reopening his recruitment. Earlier in the spring, the Plymouth, Pa., prospect took uno5cial visits to Rutgers, Pitt and Mississippi State, so it was no se- cret that Bleich was still considering other schools. He then traveled to Ne- braska to watch the Cornhuskers' spring game on April 15. A6er thinking every- thing over for a few days, Bleich an- nounced that he would be opening up his recruitment. But it didn't take long for James Franklin and his assistants to 3ll Bleich's spot. Just a day later, they added two four-star of- fensive tackles, as Nana Asiedu of Stan- ford, Va., and Antwan Reed of Muskegon, Mich., verbally committed to the Nittany Lions while in town for the Blue-White Game. Both prospects were priorities for the staff – Franklin had extended offers more than a year ago – but Asiedu was the more coveted of the two. A member of the Rivals250, he earned 26 scholar- ship offers before ending his recruit- ment. The Lions beat out many of the top schools in the nation, including Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Geor- gia, LSU, Auburn, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia Tech. "I decided to pick Penn State because that's where I have the best relationships with the coaches and I feel the most com- fortable," Asiedu said. "I feel like I 3t in best there. The coaching sta4 and I text back and forth every single day. Some- times we don't even talk about football. We talk about life and things like that. They also have a really good relationship with my family. My parents trust the coaches a lot. They talk to Coach Franklin a lot and they always have a good time talking to him." In addition to his relationship with the coaches, Asiedu is also close friends with Ricky Slade, a four-star running back prospect who joined the Lions' class in February. Their friendship played a small role in his decision, as did the overall quality of the class that Penn State has been assembling. "My hopes are that this class does something big in the future," Asiedu said. "Hopefully we win a national champi- onship with this class and we can look Linemen give lift to PSU's Class of '18 Trio announces for Lions, but news is not all positive | F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G ASIEDU For daily and breaking news updates on Penn State football recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com.

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