Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/916653
C.J. [Thorpe]. We all had a good time. I enjoyed it." Over the past year, Walker has been speaking with multiple members of the coaching sta; on a weekly basis. In addi- tion to Franklin, he's been speaking with o;ensive line coach Matt Limegrover regularly, but he also has a great relation- ship with Penn State's new tight ends coach, Tyler Bowen, as Bowen was Walker's lead recruiter at Maryland. "Honestly, I've been talking to them for like two years now, so it wasn't really about football or recruiting," Walker said. "We were mainly just chilling. "One thing that was a lot of fun was playing Madden and NBA 2K with them. I'm not going to lie, Coach [Ricky] Rahne is good with the sticks. He got me good in 2K. But that was fun. It was cool having fun with them and not just talking about football all the time." As of mid-December, it was still unclear which school Walker was going to visit next. Both Ohio State and Virginia Tech were hoping to get him on campus before the dead period, but he said he would likely have to wait until January. That means he won't be able to sign until February. Even if he's forced to wait, a few of Penn State's committed players felt good about the sta;'s chances with Walker. Future PSU wide receiver Daniel George of Oxon Hill, Md., said that he believes the Lions are in a good position. "Between the three [uncommitted players], I mainly talked to Rasheed, but Micah and Tyreke seemed like they were having a good time. Rasheed and I talked pretty much the whole trip. I'm hoping everything I said to him helps him make his mind up and come to Penn State. I think PSU has a great chance with all three, but I am most con:dent about Rasheed and Micah." Four-star o;ensive lineman Nana Asiedu of Sta;ord, Va., also thought that the sta; was in a good position with Walker and Parsons following their week- end on campus. "Rasheed is very high on PSU," Asiedu said. "Some big news might come soon. Same with Micah." ■ P enn State was forced to part ways ear- lier this month with two of its prized recruits in the Class of 2018. On Dec. 1, Philadelphia native Isheem Young was arrested for allegedly robbing a South Philadelphia Wawa convenience store. According to the Philadelphia In- quirer, the Imhotep Charter prospect was charged with multiple felonies, in- cluding robbery, conspiracy and :rearm violations. The o;ense took place on July 30, 12 days a=er Young verbally committed to the Nittany Lions. A police report stated that he took $13,600 from the store's safe. He was allegedly accompanied by two others, including his brother, who was a manager at the store. James Franklin and his sta; learned about the arrest just hours before Young's teammates were set to face Bethlehem Catholic in the PIAA Class AAAA semi:nals. A=er collecting infor- mation, Penn State decided on Dec. 3 to cut ties with Young. He wasn't the only prospect whom Penn State was forced to drop over the past few weeks, as o;ensive lineman Antwan Reed of Muskegon, Mich., is also no longer part of the sta;'s 2018 class. Heading into the season, Reed needed to make some improvements ac- ademically if he was ultimately going to be able to sign a letter of intent. It ap- peared in early December as though the sta; was forced to make a decision, as Reed announced on Dec. 8 that he was no longer part of the class. With the two four-star prospects out of the picture, the Nittany Lions were down to 20 commitments in the Class of 2018. Young was the second prospect this year to have a Penn State scholarship o;er rescinded for nonacademic rea- sons. In October, defensive lineman Do- rian Hardy of Paramus, N.J., was dismissed from the class a=er being kicked o; Paramus Catholic's football team for getting into a :ght with a team- mate. It's unclear exactly how many scholar- ships the sta; plans to use, but as of mid-December it was believed that Penn State had at least :ve slots to :ll in this year's recruiting class. The Lions were expected to add at least two more defen- sive linemen, but the sta; had a number of options as it looked to award its re- maining scholarships. Receiver Solomons Enis and o;ensive lineman Rasheed Walker were very much in play, joining defensive ends Micah Parsons and Jayson Oweh and defensive tackle Tyreke Smith. –R.S. Lions sever ties to two prospects in Class of 2018 N O T I C E T O S U B S C R I B E R S BWI to provide recap of early signing period The advent of an early signing period for college football has changed the recruiting calendar in dramatic ways. At BWI, we are adapting to that change by supplementing our February recruiting magazine with additional coverage of the December signing period. While our Fiesta Bowl preview magazine went to press before the start of the three-day signing period, subscribers will receive an email just before Christmas de- tailing the Nittany Lions' signings. The Class of 2018 magazine will mail in February when the Lions have completed their recruiting efforts for the year. ■