Blue White Illustrated

P enn State landed only one >ve-star prospect during the early signing period, but by the time the >nal stamp had been put on the Class of 2018 in early February, there were two such players headed to University Park. The upgrade was not courtesy of the newest addition to the class, o@ensive tackle Rasheed Walker, considered by Ri- vals.com to be a high four-star prospect. Rather, wide receiver Justin Shorter at last got his bump, making him a unani- mous >ve-star pick by the internet serv- ices. Following an overwhelmingly productive week of practice leading up to the U.S. Army All-America Game in San Antonio, Texas, in early January, Rivals.com crowned Shorter one of 33 >ve-star prospects in its >nal rankings. "Shorter has been trending up in the rankings for a while now and his per- formance at the Under Armour All- America Game and in the practices helped push him up to >ve-star status," Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst Adam Friedman wrote about the Monmouth Junction, N.J., prospect who now ranks No. 18 overall. "The Penn State signee's size is obvi- ous but watching his body control when he is running routes and leaping to catch the ball is tremendous. Shorter will de>nitely give defensive backs headaches in the red zone because of that size, catch radius, and his reliable hands." He joins classmate Micah Parsons, who has held >ve stars since the incep- tion of his ranking. AAer the announce- ment from head coach James Franklin that the nation's No. 6 player would begin his career at a posi- tion for which he was not ranked by the recruiting services, the Harrisburg defensive end was switched to the No. 1 outside linebacker for the senior class. FLOWER POWER Williams helped lead the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth in 2008. BWI file photo F E A T U R E S AIMING FOR THE STARS As PSU proved in 2005 and again this year, elite prospects can change the conversation |

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