Blue White Illustrated

A @er watching Penn State put to- gether consecutive 11-win seasons the past two years, a feat that the program had only accomplished four times previously (1968-69, 1977-78, 1985-86 and 2008-09), one can't help but come away with the distinct impres- sion that the Nittany Lions are on the verge of a rebirth. Not only have they en- joyed two strong seasons back to back, they've parlayed their on->eld progress into recruiting gains, and that will be the key to sustaining their success. The main reason for the team's surge in 2008 and '09 was that it had assembled very good recruiting classes in 2005 and '06. In fact, those were regarded as the best consecutive classes that Joe Paterno had landed in close to a decade. In the >ve years that preceded the class's arrival, Penn State had slogged through the longest downturn of the Pa- terno era, compiling losing records in 2000, '01, '03 and '04. To put that in per- spective, prior to the 2000 season, the Lions had only endured one losing season in Paterno's 34 years as head coach. That was in 1988, when an unstable quarter- back situation contributed to a 5-6 >nish. How had the Lions managed to slip so dramatically from the ranks of the na- tion's elite teams? The primary reason was that their recruiting had faltered. They lacked blue-chip skill position players on both o?ense and defense. With the Class of 2005, Penn State began to address those de>ciencies. The class only ranked 25th in the country ac- cording to Rivals.com, but for the most part, the 19 players who signed with the Nittany Lions in February of that year >lled the team's needs. The Lions signed Rivals' No. 1 player in the country in athlete Derrick Williams and added a second >ve-star prospect in corner- back/wide receiver Justin King. Both Williams and King ended up playing key roles as true freshmen, helping li@ the Nittany Lions to an 11-1 >nish that in- cluded a 26-23 triple-overtime victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl. An even bigger breakthrough followed in February 2006, as Paterno landed Ri- vals' sixth-ranked recruiting class – the program's best class since the 1997 group that was spearheaded by USA Today Player of the Year LaVar Arring- ton and was rated No. 1 in the country. The '06 class featured only one >ve-star player in cornerback A.J. Wallace, but it had 13 four-star players, a list headed up by defensive linemen Jared Odrick and Maurice Evans and quarterback Pat Devlin. It went on to produce Penn State's career rushing leader, Evan Roys- ter, as well as NFL tight end Andrew Quarless, All-America and All-Pro line- backer NaVorro Bowman, >rst-round NFL dra@ee Aaron Maybin and future pro o?ensive lineman Johnnie Trout- man. All told, there were 10 two-year starters in the group that Paterno signed that February. Given the program's history of convert- ing solid recruiting classes into champi- onship seasons, you have to feel optimistic about Penn State's future a@er James Franklin signed what Rivals and most recruiting analysts believe to be the team's best class since 1997. The Lions al- ready have a Big Ten championship under their belt under Franklin, and there's hope that a berth in the College Football Playo? may prove to be within reach. There are, of course, a number of ways to assess a class's value. Internet rank- ings are one way. But a more important metric is whether the class meets the team's needs. The good news for Penn State is that this year's group appears to stack up very well in that respect, too. I would say that the Lions did their best job of recruiting for need since that 2005 class that helped li@ the team back to Big Ten title contention. This is a 23-member class with two >ve-star players in linebacker/defensive end Micah Parsons and wide receiver Justin Shorter and 16 four-star athletes. It's a class that >gures to meet needs all over the >eld, as evidenced by the fact that Penn State landed one of the top two wide receiver, tight end, defensive line and linebacker classes in the Big Ten. At wide receiver and tight end, the Lions recruited three All-America wide- outs in Shorter, Daniel George and Jahan Dotson and two All-America tight ends in Zack Kuntz and Pat Freiermuth. At linebacker, where Jason Cabinda and Brandon Smith have been lost to graduation and Manny Bowen to a sus- pension that looks as though it's going to be permanent, Penn State recruited Parsons, plus four-star prospects Jesse Luketa and Nick Tarburton, and three- star player Charlie Katshir. Parsons, Luketa and Tarburton all enrolled at Penn State when the 2018 spring semes- ter began on Jan. 8. On the defensive line, Penn State lost starting tackles Curtis Cothran and Parker Cothren, plus key backup Tyrell Chavis. So Franklin and his assistant coaches landed three four-star defen- sive tackles: P.J. Mustipher, Aeneas Hawkins and Judge Culpepper. This may be the best job that a Penn State coaching sta? has done recruiting for need since Paterno and his assistants signed the No. 1 class in the country in 1991. That group included >ve All- America running backs in Mike Archie, Ki-Jana Carter, Brian King, J.T. Morris and Stephen Pitts, and 14 of its members went on to play in the NFL. Keeping all that in mind, let's take a PHIL'S CORNER Nittany Lions meet their needs with highly ranked recruiting class

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