Blue White Illustrated

after they graduate than while they were here at Penn State. "There are a bunch of guys like that. I don't think we talk enough about Stank, our center, or Farrell, our tackle. Those guys have played well for us. … Stephon Morris is one of the best cor- ners in the Big Ten. A lot of people doubted how Stephon Morris was going to play this year. He's come out and had a hell of a year, and I hope people take note of that. It is a great senior class of guys who have poured their heart and soul into this team." That class began taking shape long before O'Brien emerged as a candidate to succeed Joe Paterno. It numbered only 14 players after the fax machine at the Lasch Building finished spitting out letters of intent on Feb. 5, 2008 (two days after O'Brien's previously unbeaten New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII). After signing 21 players in 2007 and 24 in 2006, the Nittany Lions didn't have as many grants to offer as they had in previous years, and the class ended up being the team's smallest since 2003, when it signed only 11. The biggest catches were the line- John Beale had the choice whether to stay at Penn State or to leave Penn State, and they chose to stay." In talking about this year's senior class, O'Brien took care to point out that it wasn't just the star players who contributed to Penn State's success. He cited linemen Matt Stankiewitch, Mike Farrell and Pete Massaro before delving into the hidden recesses of the Lions' depth chart. "That's the great thing about this class," he said. "You have a lot of guys like the Shane Mc- Gregors and the J.R. Refices. These are unique guys who come out to prac- tice every week and are great students. You'll probably hear more about them backers. Recruited aggressively by Flori- da's then-coach Urban Meyer, Mauti was considered by Rivals.com to be one of the top 20 inside linebackers in the country and was one of ESPN.com's top 150 players nationally. Michael Yancich was named an All-American by Tom Lemming and played in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl af- ter a senior season in which he made 134 tackles and 17 sacks. Zordich and Brandon Beachum, teammates at Car- dinal Mooney High in Youngstown, Ohio, were also listed as linebackers as entering freshmen, even though they had experience at running back. They helped Mooney win the Ohio Class IV championship in 2006, and Zordich was the fifth-ranked middle linebacker in the country according to Scout.com. Mauti, Yancich, Zordich and Beachum were all considered four- star prospects by Rivals.com, making them the highest-rated players in the class. Their signatures seemed to as- sure that Linebacker U would continue to live up to its nickname following the departure of Dan Connor and Sean Lee. Future roommates Zordich and Mauti hit it off right away after meeting at a junior day event that both attended. "We've been cool ever since," Zordich said. "We just got along. We joked around, laughed. We're the same kind of people. We play the game with the same type of attitude and we have the same passion for it, so that helped." The Lions were also focused on the defensive line, signing ends Jack Craw- ford and Massaro and tackles James Terry and Brandon Ware. Three offen- sive linemen – Farrell, Stankiewitch and DeOn'tae Pannell – also came aboard, as did defensive back D'Anton Lynn, receiver A.J. Price and tight end Mark Wedderburn. Still, on signing day, much of the fo- cus at Penn State was on the players who hadn't signed: Virginia receiver Deion Walker, Ohio running back Michael Shaw and Pennsylvania quar- terback Terrelle Pryor. Walker signed with Notre Dame. He had given Penn State's coaching staff reason to believe that he was wavering on his verbal commitment to the Irish, but in the end he followed through. Shaw signed with Michigan, breaking his verbal commitment to Penn State in a bit of signing-day drama. And Pryor? His recruitment made national headlines when it headed into overtime. The five-star prospect from Jeannette, Pa., who was considered by some to be the top recruit in the country, was thought to be leaning toward either Ohio State or Michigan, with Oregon also in the mix. But he was still un- committed on signing day, raising hopes that Paterno and Tom Bradley might be able to persuade him to join the Nittany Lions instead. In the end, they were unsuccessful. After taking an official visit to Penn State, Pryor committed to Ohio State. The middling reviews the class received on signing day – it was rated 43rd na- tionally by Rivals, in between West Virginia and Mississippi State – were not revised upward. And that was before the inevitable wave of attrition set in. Every class

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