Blue White Illustrated

F E B R U A R Y 8 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 2 claimed first-team All-Met honors from The Washington Post. The year before, he was a second-team All-Met selection by the Post. Walker wrapped up his high school career in January with an appear- ance at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Franklin said Walker is versatile enough to play defense at the college level, but it appears much more likely that he will team up with classmates Nana Asiedu, Juice Scruggs and Bryce Effner on a fu- ture Penn State offensive front. "You take Nana at one tackle, you take Rasheed at the other tackle, you put Juice at center and then you have a situation with Effner being a swing guy who could play either guard, possibly center or tackle, then I think we've put a helluva class together," Franklin said. Despite the addition of Walker, the Nit- tany Lions slipped to fiAh nationally in the Rivals team rankings, one spot below their ranking coming out of the early signing period. The teams ahead of them are Georgia, Ohio State, Southern Cal and Texas. Even so, it was a day of celebration at Penn State, as the Class of 2018 is the Nittany Lions' highest-rated group since Rivals began compiling its rankings in 2002. Prior to this year, their most highly ranked classes were in 2006 (sixth), 2010 (12th) and 2017 (12th). For the third consecutive year, the Nittany Lions signed the top-rated player in Pennsylvania, as Harrisburg linebacker/defensive end Micah Parsons has joined Miles Sanders (2015) and La- mont Wade (2016) in University Park. Parsons is one of seven Pennsylvanians in the Lions' latest recruiting haul, and 13 of Penn State's 23 signees reside within 250 miles of campus. But the class is also noteworthy in that it includes several players from talent- rich states where the coaching staff would benefit from having a higher profile. Those states are Texas, home to defensive backs Isaiah Humphries and Trent Gor- don, and Florida, which is where the Lions found another DB, Jordan Miner. All told, five of the Lions' signees come from more than 950 miles from University Park. That trend is likely to continue next year, as Pennsylvania's upcoming senior class is not expected to be as strong as re- cent classes. But before turning their full attention to the Class of 2019, the coaches have been reflecting on their recently com- pleted recruiting efforts. A few prospects did get away, notably four-star wide re- ceiver Solomon Enis, who signed with Utah aAer giving his father Curtis's alma mater strong consideration. Another wideout, Harrisburg prospect Shaquon Anderson-Butts, had been verbally com- mitted to Penn State but will instead begin his career at the juco level aAer signing with Iowa Western Community College. But overall, the Lions accom- plished what they set out to do in the 2018 recruiting cycle. "I feel like we addressed a lot of our needs," Franklin said. "We probably would have liked to have been able to take another safety in this class. We probably would have liked to take an- other wide receiver in this class. But be- sides that, I think for the most part we did very well." Penn State approached the early sign- ing period the way most schools did, James Franklin said Wednesday. The Nit- tany Lions viewed the newly created De- cember signing period as the point in the recruiting calendar when most prospects were going to sign, leaving only a few va- cancies to be filled in February. "If you look across the country, I think the number was pretty high, like 85 per- cent of the prospects signed in the first signing period," he said. "I think that's how it's going to be. … We really didn't have a whole lot of question marks out there. We really only were hoping and waiting for one signature today. That's what we were expecting, and it worked out that way. So we feel really good about that." Franklin added that he has some reser- vations about a related change that will allow prospects to take official visits in the spring before their senior years rather than waiting until the fall or winter. "I get it and I understand why, and I think you can really make an argument, being in Big Ten country, that being able to bring guys here when the campus is warm and there are flowers and all those wonderful things [is beneficial]," he said. "But I also want to make sure that we're able to spend enough time with our current players and develop them and then also be able to spend time with our own fami- lies. I get the early visits. I wish the win- dow was a little bit smaller. I just worry about how that's all going to play out." This isn't the first time that Franklin has expressed these concerns, and I see his point. The change probably isn't going to help Penn State much, and he knows that. Over the years, the Lions haven't had many problems getting their top prospects on campus for spring practice or the Blue-White Game, even without PSU picking up the tab. Under the new rule, prospects might chose to take official visits to schools they wouldn't pay their own way to see. If that happens, it could become more difficult for bigger programs like Penn State to earn official visits later in the cycle. It's unfortunate, but some prospects might end up wasting their visits early and hurting themselves later in the fall. I think Franklin foresees that being an issue. Also, the new rule will likely add to the coaches' workload. Weekends in late April and May are among the few in which they get to relax. This move po- tentially takes away some of those weekends, depriving coaches of family time. So I think I understand Franklin's point. The only way this change will re- ally benefit Penn State is if the staff is bringing in elite Southern or West Coast talent regularly. R Y A N S N Y D E R O N R E C R U I T I N G New rule governing official visits inspires mixed reaction

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