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talked to Coach Butler and Coach [Ron] Vanderlinden, and they were really glad that I got to come down for the game. I loved the atmosphere, nothing can get better than that. I stayed the night and went out with a couple of friends, and that was another good experience at Penn State. It was just an overall great college experience." RYAN'S TAKE Little has said he has a lot of interest in Penn State. He will prob- ably not be one of the first few defensive backs to receive a Penn State offer, but I believe he will get one next spring or summer. He has no reason to make an early decision, but if Penn State does extend an offer this spring, I could see him making a commitment before his senior season. I expect Rivals.com to give him a three-star rating. D'ANDRE PAYNE CB|5-9|172| Washington, D.C.|H.D. Woodson High SCHOOLS OF INTEREST Payne has already received more than 30 verbal offers, including one from Penn State. Other schools on his list include Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State and Virginia Tech. QUOTABLE "It was a good visit. I had a lot of fun. I had a game on Friday, and then right after we left and got up there at 2 a.m. on Saturday, I spent time with Stephon Morris. We went to a tailgate and spent time with the coaches until we went on the field at about 4." RYAN'S TAKE Payne looks as if he could be one of the top defensive backs in the nation next year. Penn State is off to a good start with Payne, and he's very close with Morris's father, Roman. But I'd be surprised if the Nittany Lions make his top five. Payne will most likely be in position to attend any school he wants. TROY REEDER LB|6-3|232| Wilmington, Del.|Salesianum School SCHOOLS OF INTEREST Reeder has received offers from Boston College, Penn State, Rutgers and Virginia. Other schools SEE RECRUITING NEXT PAGE Expect PSU to stay aggressive I t recently became evident how Penn State will approach recruit- ing during the next few years. What is going to change? Well, outside of aggression, nothing really. Just as fans have come to expect, the staff will go after whichever players fit best at its top positions of need. But unlike in the Paterno era, Bill O'Brien and his assistants have made it clear that the time is now to make sure the very top prospects on its recruiting board understand that they will not only be a priority during the next 15 months but could also thrive in the offensive and defensive schemes that have gained tons of praise dur- ing O'Brien's first season. Penn State will still take an ap- proach similar to that of its com- petitors – scout in the fall, review film in the winter and make offers in February and March. That will actually be the route for the majori- ty of players who earn an offer. But what's exciting and different now is that this staff isn't wasting any time identifying three or four prospects at each position of need. During the past few weeks alone, Penn State's total number of Class of 2014 prospects has doubled, as 34 high school juniors now claim verbal scholarship offers from the school. According to Rivals.com, 26 of those prospects will most likely earn four stars or more. That's a clear indication that the staff doesn't plan to step away while ri- val schools attempt to clean up in states where the Nittany Lions have done well in past years. I feel as though this approach aligns with the overall demeanor of the coaching staff. These guys are determined to prove the doubters wrong. Some might say they are just doing their job, but they are doing it with a chip on their shoulder, or a "swagger" as the recruits would call it. It's something I never really saw from the previous staff, something that only the hardest-working staffs in the country seem to possess. Yes, the Class of 2013 still has a long way to go. With a host of early enrollees expected to join, plus mul- tiple scholarships remaining, the staff's focus should be on making sure that these final few scholar- ships go to players who have the po- tential to make important contribu- tions to the program going forward. However, during October and No- vember, when the majority of prospects put recruiting on the back burner so that they could con- centrate on schoolwork and their season, this staff used one of the slower periods to make an early push with next year's class. When we look back a year from now, I think we will see the benefits of this approach. As many people have come to realize, bowl games aren't what really matter. What prospects want most is to play for a solid coaching staff, get a good edu- cation and compete in a top confer- ence that will give them ample op- portunities for exposure to NFL scouts. Penn State still offers all those opportunities.

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