Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/916653
tasi remembered going to the summer camp for the first time before his fresh- man year in 1990. "I came up that year because it was one of those situations where my dad was coming up and he said I should go and sign up," Nastasi said. "I just came up to compete and see how I did. My school was so small that I didn't have the chance to play in a lot of big state games where I could compare talent. So I had to get myself out there in camps where I could compare my skill sets against other guys. Penn State started showing some interest after that camp, and that's how the recruiting process started. They showed more interest by following me in baseball and basketball." Nastasi recalls Ganter and defensive backs coach Jim Caldwell being involved, but it was the recruiting coordinator, Bill Kenney, who was the point man in getting Nastasi's historic commitment. Kenney had coached Penn State's offensive line for three years when Paterno reassigned him to the role of recruiting coordinator in 1992, a position he held until he re- turned to coaching offensive tackles and tight ends in 1996. Even as recruiting co- ordinator, Kenney was responsible for scouting players from certain geographic areas, and Northern Bedford had been part of his region since 1989. "That's why we knew Joe so well by the time he was going to be a junior," said Kenney, who is now on the staff at West- ern Michigan. "In those days in recruit- ing, everybody went out on the road during the contact period after a player's senior year and went into the homes and started making their official offers. A week or so after the signing date [Feb. 3, 1993], I went through the [NCAA] rule book. I walked into Joe Paterno's office and said, 'Coach, I can't find anything in the rule book that precludes us from of- fering Joe Nastasi a scholarship before December [of his senior year].' Joe looks at me over his glasses and says, 'That's just the way we do it. We offer in Decem- ber.' I said, 'I realize that, Coach. Why not try to offer him sooner?' He said, 'Let me evaluate what you have going. From that standpoint, it probably evens things out a bit. A school can't really stockpile a couple of tailbacks or a cou- ple of quarterbacks. "Say Blair Thomas is your tailback and he's a junior and you're talking to a high school prospect. You can tell him one more year and he's going to take Blair's place. Way back [then], the kid pretty much had to take your word for it. Now, he just gets online and he can see the quotes of the head coach from the year before when another kid committed. Or he can just look up your roster in a second or two and see how many tailbacks you have and who redshirted. I think it's much better for the prospect. Everything is out there for him. He can do a much better job evaluating your squad and who else you're recruiting and that sort of thing. From a high school player's standpoint, it's a much better situa- tion for him and his family, which is the way it should be. And from a col- lege coach's standpoint, you'd better lay it out there and be 100 percent honest because it's easy for them to find out what's going on." Ganter's favorite example of recruit- ing during the last three decades of the 20th century started with a telephone call from a Penn State graduate living in Nevada in 1981. "I was the place-kicking coach for the majority of my career, and we got a phone call and they put it through to me because it involved a kicker," Ganter said. "It was an alum from Reno, Nev., who lived across the street from the high school stadium. His house looked at the back of the scoreboard. He told me, 'There's a kid over here at the high school and he's kicking footballs into my yard every day. You ought to come out and look at this kid.' I swear we never recruited anyone out of Reno. One thing led to another, and I flew out to Reno and met with the kid. It turned out to be Massimo Manca." By signing day in February 1982, coaches from Nebraska, Oregon, TCU and a couple of other schools had found their way to Reno to recruit Manca, but he chose Penn State. "What clinched it for Penn State is they were the first to come visit me in Reno and the first to offer a scholarship," Manca told this writer a few years ago. Manca was expected to redshirt in his freshman year of 1982, but when the Lions' incumbent place kicker, sopho- more Nick Gancitano, strained a mus- cle in his thigh before the season began, Manca became the starting kicker. Gancitano resumed the place-kicking duties after four games, but Manca stayed on to handle kickoffs, including the ones in the 1983 Sugar Bowl when Penn State beat Georgia, 27-23, to win the program's first national champi- onship. Manca redshirted in 1983, then be- came the starting kicker on the 1985 and '86 teams that played for the na- tional title. He never missed an extra point in that span, hitting his 64th and 65th PATs in the 14-10 Fiesta Bowl win over Miami for the team's second na- tional championship. He is the only Penn State player to score points for both national championship teams. Manca is still in the Penn State record books in several categories, including sixth in career field goals with 40. He is tied with three other kickers for most field goals in one game, having con- verted five attempts against Notre Dame in 1985. And there was one more repercus- sion from that Reno telephone call. Nick Gasparato, another Penn State assistant in 1981, also helped recruit Manca. When Gasparato left after that season to coach at Virginia, he re- cruited another Reno kicker for the Cavaliers, Massimo's younger brother, Maurizio. ■