2018 Recruiting Thread

[Judge Smails]

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on NBC, featuring many of the nation’s best high school seniors. Here are five players to watch from the East.

MORE: Everything you need to know about the Army Bowl | Full rosters

Micah Parsons
One of the nation’s most dominant defensive players, Parsons has appeared unstoppable at times at practice this week. The Penn State signee figures to be a major problem for the West offensive line.


http://usatodayhss.com/2018/army-all-american-bowl-players-to-watch-east

 

[anon_1eeb2b426hv3y]

Because you're anal and we like to irritate the $hit out of you.

That’s awesome! Sometimes the answer is just so simple...

 

[LaJolla Lion]

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl is Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on NBC, featuring many of the nation’s best high school seniors. Here are five players to watch from the East.

MORE: Everything you need to know about the Army Bowl | Full rosters

Micah Parsons
One of the nation’s most dominant defensive players, Parsons has appeared unstoppable at times at practice this week. The Penn State signee figures to be a major problem for the West offensive line.


http://usatodayhss.com/2018/army-all-american-bowl-players-to-watch-east

One thing you notice in these AA games is the elite DL are yeas ahead of the elite OL. There are exceptions to the rule, but these OL don't see future NFL DL every single day so the adjustment takes some time. I would imagine he will be a hand full tomorrow.

 

[Judge Smails]

Free article from 247. Seems like in addition to being a great coach, Spencer has an advantage that he relates better to today's players. He ain't "Father Time" and shiat.



https://247sports.com/Article/4-Star-DE-Oweh-breaks-down-Penn-State-commitment-113191724


The No. 5 strong side defensive end in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite announced his decision following the third quarter of the Under Armour All-America Game. The Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy standout chose the Nittany Lions over Ohio State.

"I felt the most comfortable at Penn State," Oweh said. "They had 10-win seasons the past two years and I am just ready to be a part of that."

Defensive line coach Sean Spencer and Oweh established a strong relationship through the process, and that was key.

A one-time basketball prospect, Oweh moved to the gridiron less than two years. He remains raw, and he is looking forward to working with Spencer.

"I know he can make me better and develop me," Oweh said. "People talk a lot about (Ohio State defensive line) coach (Larry) Johnson, and he is a great coach, but so is coach Spencer. He connects with his players."

“A lot of people don’t understand — he’s good too, he’s just younger,” Oweh said. “Coach Johnson has just been in [college football] longer than him. [Spencer] knows how to interact with players and that’s a plus on his side. They both can develop.”

 

[Roethlisberge]

Tyler Friday is interviewed by Brian Dohn. See URL.
This is somewhat dated (Sept 15) but listen all the way through interview. PSU is toward the end.



Since this interview he has taken Official Visits to Mich, OSU and Alabama. Has two O-visits left to take.

IMO, PSU is still in the picture. He may take Official Visit to PSU in before Feb 7.

Watch who Brian Dohn puts his next CB update toward.

 

[Judge Smails]

Tyler Friday is interviewed by Brian Dohn. See URL.
This is somewhat dated (Sept 15) but listen all the way through interview. PSU is toward the end.

View embedded media

Since this interview he has taken Official Visits to Mich, OSU and Alabama. Has two O-visits left to take.

IMO, PSU is still in the picture. He may take Official Visit to PSU in before Feb 7.

Watch who Brian Dohn puts his next CB update toward.

Q: "About Coach Spence. Why do kids love him so much? Cause everyone talks about him. Coach Chaos."

Friday: "He just makes everything fun. He makes playing D-line something you want to do. He makes you turn into a savage. I like the mentality."

 

[royboy]

Impressive that Tom Herman has landed 17 Top 300s. Can he start winning with all that talent?

Beware the Texas effect....holding kids back for athletic eligibility, year-around training, more attention from recruiting gurus can produce 4 and 5-star kids who don't have as much room for improvement. Friday Night Lights doesn't always mean Saturday success.

 

[Marylovesthelions]

Sorry but this old girl recalls all of the number 1-4 classes Texas has had over 25 years with mediocre results at best. This suggests a bias toward Texas HS talent.

 

[Raffycorn]

Sorry but this old girl recalls all of the number 1-4 classes Texas has had over 25 years with mediocre results at best. This suggests a bias toward Texas HS talent.

Mack Brown ran out of steam towards the end and Charlie Strong wasn't a great hire, but Texas did win double-digit games for nine consecutive seasons from 2001-2009, went to two national championships and won one. That's way better than mediocre.

 

[Ranger Dan]

If we do get Young, I'm guessing it means goodbye Walker ? To be totally honest based on need I'd take Young and Walker over Enis

I’m not discounting the talents or abilities that Enis has, but I think we need O Tackles more than we do WRs. I think if he weren’t a legacy, his name wouldn’t be mentioned nearly as much.

 

[Ranger Dan]

Beware the Texas effect....holding kids back for athletic eligibility, year-around training, more attention from recruiting gurus can produce 4 and 5-star kids who don't have as much room for improvement. Friday Night Lights doesn't always mean Saturday success.

The same is true with IMG players

 

[PSUcup1]

I’m not discounting the talents or abilities that Enis has, but I think we need O Tackles more than we do WRs. I think if he weren’t a legacy, his name wouldn’t be mentioned nearly as much.

We are going to lose both JJ and Thompkins after next year and we play 5 WRs throughout a game. Can always use another 6’4” WR. Nightmare matchups as we’ve seen the last few years

 

[ezmarsh]

Yeah SPARQ was started by a company Nike bought and is used by NFL teams to evaluate draft prospects.

There are tons of information about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARQ_Training

I really like this paragraph from blackshoediaries about Will Levis SPARQ measurements. It really shows he's an elite athlete.

"Before getting to the film itself, we need to start with Levis’ ridiculously high SPARQ rating of 123.27, the highest score of any quarterback in the country. He ran a faster 40-yard dash than Zack Kuntz. He had a better vertical leap than Justin Shorter. He had a longer power throw than Micah Parsons. And perhaps most impressively, his 20-yard shuttle time was just 0.03 seconds slower than Ricky Slade."

Sounds like the 2nd coming of Stevens---another player for the new LION position

 

[Ranger Dan]

We are going to lose both JJ and Thompkins after next year and we play 5 WRs throughout a game. Can always use another 6’4” WR. Nightmare matchups as we’ve seen the last few years

I’m not turning the guy away, but we have two studs coming in already this class and guys from last class who haven’t contributed yet. O tackles are more of a crap shot relative to who is going to pan out.

 

[GregInPitt]

I’m not discounting the talents or abilities that Enis has, but I think we need O Tackles more than we do WRs. I think if he weren’t a legacy, his name wouldn’t be mentioned nearly as much.

Yep, and that's what CJF said on December 20th. But I believe CJF wants Enis AND another OT.

Wonder if CJF has identified another OT to go after in the event that Walker does not pick PSU. Other than Walker and a kid from FL that I have never heard of being on campus, 247 does not show any offers out to uncommitted OT's. In previous years CJF could go back and try to flip a kid like the JC player Bradley, but "committed" on 247 now for the most part means "signed". There are very few uncommitted OT's in the top 100 247 OT rankings..... Maybe CJF just doubles down for 2019, or maybe he goes after a top JC OT for 2019.

 

[Ranger Dan]

Sounds like the 2nd coming of Stevens---another player for the new LION position

Or, starting QB....

 

[PineIslandLion]

"I was talking to the kids at Penn State," Smith said, "and they were like, 'For real, Coach (Larry) Johnson that dude is a great coach. I wouldn't be mad if you went there. I think he's the best coach in the country.'"

I find this very very very hard to believe...
1. Not one of these kids was at Penn State when LJ was a coach here to know about his coaching.
2. Our current players LOVE Coach Spence, and would be a straight slap in the face to him.

It's a flat out lie. What's more believable is that some OSU booster produced a nice, big bag of cash for Tyreke & his family. This kid & his family were in love with PSU throughout, & then suddenly, not so much. Doesn't compute.

 

[Norm Petersin]

3 months ago, if you said we would get Parsons and Oweh, we would have said no way. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, just saying, I am thrilled

 

[PSU-PITT/NY]

"I was talking to the kids at Penn State," Smith said, "and they were like, 'For real, Coach (Larry) Johnson that dude is a great coach. I wouldn't be mad if you went there. I think he's the best coach in the country.'"

I find this very very very hard to believe...
1. Not one of these kids was at Penn State when LJ was a coach here to know about his coaching.
2. Our current players LOVE Coach Spence, and would be a straight slap in the face to him.

RE: LARRY JOHNSON

QUESTION:

Why is it that Urban Meyer knew that Larry Johnson was the
top Defensive Line Coach/Recruiter in the country, and the PSU Brain-trust couldn't figure it out ?

Urban was smart enough to sit down with Larry and find out what it would take to make him happy - "A Title: Assistant Head Coach."

LARRY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE PENN STATE.. !!!

That little oversight has/and will cause PSU headaches for as many as 10 years. It cost us Tyreke Smith this year. Almost cost us Parsons as well, by the skin of our teeth, and others in the past. Larry had been here for 25 years, and had an awesome East-Coast Pipe-line built up among all the major Eastern High School Coaches.

In spite of this extremely bad decision, Franklin has done an amazing job. But he's working much harder than he would have to, not having to fight Larry and OHIAH ... Perhaps, Franklin, being from the south, just was not close enough to understand the gravity of that decision ?

Can't help but imagine what PSU would look like with Larry ON OUR SIDE, where he belongs, instead of making Urban Meyer look like a genius ?


[Joe Paterno: "Don't worry about the recruits that we lose. Just make sure that the ones we get can play."]

 

[GregInPitt]

RE: LARRY JOHNSON

QUESTION:

Why is it that Urban Meyer knew that Larry Johnson was the
top Defensive Line Coach/Recruiter in the country, and the PSU Brain-trust couldn't figure it out ?

Urban was smart enough to sit down with Larry and find out what it would take to make him happy - "A Title: Assistant Head Coach."

LARRY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE PENN STATE.. !!!

That little oversight has/and will cause PSU headaches for as many as 10 years. It cost us Tyreke Smith this year. Almost cost us Parsons as well, by the skin of our teeth, and others in the past. Larry had been here for 25 years, and had an awesome East-Coast Pipe-line built up among all the major Eastern High School Coaches.

In spite of this extremely bad decision, Franklin has done an amazing job. But he's working much harder than he would have to, not having to fight Larry and OHIAH ... Perhaps, Franklin, being from the south, just was not close enough to understand the gravity of that decision ?

Can't help but imagine what PSU would look like with Larry ON OUR SIDE, where he belongs, instead of making Urban Meyer look like a genius ?


[Joe Paterno: "Don't worry about the recruits that we lose. Just make sure that the ones we get can play."]

1. LJ Sr interviewed for head coaching job, and when he didn't get it went to duh-oh-high-ya
2. Obviously the PSU admin believed BOB would be a better head coach than LJ Sr., and they were correct
3. Obviously the PSU admin believed CJF would be a better head coach than LJ Sr., and they were correct
4. Both BOB and CJF brought in assistants that they wanted, not being setimental, which is what any good head coach would do
5. We have no reason to believe that LJ Sr would have come back to PSU during his tenure at duh-oh-high-ya
6. The Allies have landed at Normandy, as well!!

 

[djr4rebs]

Mack Brown ran out of steam towards the end and Charlie Strong wasn't a great hire, but Texas did win double-digit games for nine consecutive seasons from 2001-2009, went to two national championships and won one. That's way better than mediocre.

'84-'97 was VERY mediocre. One 10 win season and a lot of 4-6 win years. I don't remember them being hit by any sanctions, but prior to that they were having a double digit win total about every three years during the Paterno era.

Interesting that upon a little research, A&M had 6 double digit win seasons during this period of mediocre records. Seems safe to say that the talent pool in Texas flows to the hot school and cools the other off.

I’m not turning the guy away, but we have two studs coming in already this class and guys from last class who haven’t contributed yet. O tackles are more of a crap shot relative to who is going to pan out.

I agree that we need studs at OT, but at the same time I don't think that we should be reaching at any position to simply add a body. We are recruiting at our best level in years. Stick to the plan.

As for Enis, it's a position that seems to be over recruited but none of these kids are guaranteed to be studs. As much as loved our depth, only Hamilton and Johnson really stood out. Blacknall never showed up this year; Thompkins had two memorable catches, one HUGE drop, and otherwise a quiet season beyond the punt return; Polk made very little impact; Charles was non-existent at WR.

This offense needs multiple great WRs to get to the playoff level and the staff seems intent on providing the bodies while high quality recruits are high on us.

 

[PSUcup1]

RE: LARRY JOHNSON

QUESTION:

Why is it that Urban Meyer knew that Larry Johnson was the
top Defensive Line Coach/Recruiter in the country, and the PSU Brain-trust couldn't figure it out ?

Urban was smart enough to sit down with Larry and find out what it would take to make him happy - "A Title: Assistant Head Coach."

LARRY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE PENN STATE.. !!!

That little oversight has/and will cause PSU headaches for as many as 10 years. It cost us Tyreke Smith this year. Almost cost us Parsons as well, by the skin of our teeth, and others in the past. Larry had been here for 25 years, and had an awesome East-Coast Pipe-line built up among all the major Eastern High School Coaches.

In spite of this extremely bad decision, Franklin has done an amazing job. But he's working much harder than he would have to, not having to fight Larry and OHIAH ... Perhaps, Franklin, being from the south, just was not close enough to understand the gravity of that decision ?

Can't help but imagine what PSU would look like with Larry ON OUR SIDE, where he belongs, instead of making Urban Meyer look like a genius ?


[Joe Paterno: "Don't worry about the recruits that we lose. Just make sure that the ones we get can play."]

Is this a serious post?

 

[grinagrin]

RE: LARRY JOHNSON

QUESTION:

Why is it that Urban Meyer knew that Larry Johnson was the
top Defensive Line Coach/Recruiter in the country, and the PSU Brain-trust couldn't figure it out ?

Urban was smart enough to sit down with Larry and find out what it would take to make him happy - "A Title: Assistant Head Coach."

LARRY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE PENN STATE.. !!!

That little oversight has/and will cause PSU headaches for as many as 10 years. It cost us Tyreke Smith this year. Almost cost us Parsons as well, by the skin of our teeth, and others in the past. Larry had been here for 25 years, and had an awesome East-Coast Pipe-line built up among all the major Eastern High School Coaches.

In spite of this extremely bad decision, Franklin has done an amazing job. But he's working much harder than he would have to, not having to fight Larry and OHIAH ... Perhaps, Franklin, being from the south, just was not close enough to understand the gravity of that decision ?

Can't help but imagine what PSU would look like with Larry ON OUR SIDE, where he belongs, instead of making Urban Meyer look like a genius ?


[Joe Paterno: "Don't worry about the recruits that we lose. Just make sure that the ones we get can play."]

So many things wrong with this post.

 

[Judge Smails]

Is this a serious post?

He was pissed at Penn State for not naming him head coach. Heads to Ohio State for revenge, who has bypassed him like 5 times for DC but that's ok.

 

[WDLion]

RE: LARRY JOHNSON

QUESTION:

Why is it that Urban Meyer knew that Larry Johnson was the
top Defensive Line Coach/Recruiter in the country, and the PSU Brain-trust couldn't figure it out ?

Urban was smart enough to sit down with Larry and find out what it would take to make him happy - "A Title: Assistant Head Coach."

LARRY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE PENN STATE.. !!!

That little oversight has/and will cause PSU headaches for as many as 10 years. It cost us Tyreke Smith this year. Almost cost us Parsons as well, by the skin of our teeth, and others in the past. Larry had been here for 25 years, and had an awesome East-Coast Pipe-line built up among all the major Eastern High School Coaches.

In spite of this extremely bad decision, Franklin has done an amazing job. But he's working much harder than he would have to, not having to fight Larry and OHIAH ... Perhaps, Franklin, being from the south, just was not close enough to understand the gravity of that decision ?

Can't help but imagine what PSU would look like with Larry ON OUR SIDE, where he belongs, instead of making Urban Meyer look like a genius ?


[Joe Paterno: "Don't worry about the recruits that we lose. Just make sure that the ones we get can play."]

In what southern state is Philly located?

 

[TheGLOV]

Impressive that Tom Herman has landed 17 Top 300s. Can he start winning with all that talent?

In a word: No!

 

[TheGLOV]

He was pissed at Penn State for not naming him head coach. Heads to Ohio State for revenge, who has bypassed him like 5 times for DC but that's ok.

Yep! Pretty much.

 

[Lion8286]

 

[NittanyOpp]

RE: LARRY JOHNSON

QUESTION:

Why is it that Urban Meyer knew that Larry Johnson was the
top Defensive Line Coach/Recruiter in the country, and the PSU Brain-trust couldn't figure it out ?

Urban was smart enough to sit down with Larry and find out what it would take to make him happy - "A Title: Assistant Head Coach."

LARRY DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE PENN STATE.. !!!

That little oversight has/and will cause PSU headaches for as many as 10 years. It cost us Tyreke Smith this year. Almost cost us Parsons as well, by the skin of our teeth, and others in the past. Larry had been here for 25 years, and had an awesome East-Coast Pipe-line built up among all the major Eastern High School Coaches.

In spite of this extremely bad decision, Franklin has done an amazing job. But he's working much harder than he would have to, not having to fight Larry and OHIAH ... Perhaps, Franklin, being from the south, just was not close enough to understand the gravity of that decision ?

Can't help but imagine what PSU would look like with Larry ON OUR SIDE, where he belongs, instead of making Urban Meyer look like a genius ?


[Joe Paterno: "Don't worry about the recruits that we lose. Just make sure that the ones we get can play."]

I am forever grateful for all the sacrifices Larry Johnson gave to PSU over the years and he loved Joe. But things were changing at PSU and he wanted to be HC clearly. When he didn't get that he moved on. I have no doubt at least a small part of him wanted to stick it to PSU by going to OSU and he continues to do so to some degree.

Each HC has their own guys, who am I to argue that Chaos isn't just as good if not better than LJ for the LONG term. He is a great coach and recruiter and is a master motivator, just tune into some of his pre-game speeches, I get chills. Franklin isn't from the south, he just happened to coach Vandy for a short period of time, he was fully aware of the LJ impact at PSU and on recruiting. But he is also fully aware of how important Sean Spencer is to his staff and is also much of the same as LJ without the many more years of experience. If you notice, the PSU coaches are a new breed, young, energetic, positive etc. Perhaps he also felt or any incoming coach that LJ being bitter would have a negative impact on the program.

And while you mention all the negatives of who we may have lost because of LJ, how about those we gained because of CHAOS. I respect LJ as a great coach who was always loyal to Joe, but he's an enemy now as far as I'm concerned competing against what we want, championships. And I don't blame JF at all for bringing in Spencer. Its not like Spencer is John Donovan or the Butler clown who O'Brien brought in as the worst DC in the history of PSU football. Spencer has performed and developed players. Let's see what he can do with a bunch of 4 and 5 stars oozing with potential like Larry is getting at OSU the last few years.

 

[TheGLOV]

Tyler Friday is interviewed by Brian Dohn. See URL.
This is somewhat dated (Sept 15) but listen all the way through interview. PSU is toward the end.

View embedded media

Since this interview he has taken Official Visits to Mich, OSU and Alabama. Has two O-visits left to take.

IMO, PSU is still in the picture. He may take Official Visit to PSU in before Feb 7.

Watch who Brian Dohn puts his next CB update toward.

He smiles when you mention Penn State!!!

Got to luv our chances!!!

 

[NittanyOpp]

'84-'97 was VERY mediocre. One 10 win season and a lot of 4-6 win years. I don't remember them being hit by any sanctions, but prior to that they were having a double digit win total about every three years during the Paterno era.

Interesting that upon a little research, A&M had 6 double digit win seasons during this period of mediocre records. Seems safe to say that the talent pool in Texas flows to the hot school and cools the other off.



I agree that we need studs at OT, but at the same time I don't think that we should be reaching at any position to simply add a body. We are recruiting at our best level in years. Stick to the plan.

As for Enis, it's a position that seems to be over recruited but none of these kids are guaranteed to be studs. As much as loved our depth, only Hamilton and Johnson really stood out. Blacknall never showed up this year; Thompkins had two memorable catches, one HUGE drop, and otherwise a quiet season beyond the punt return; Polk made very little impact; Charles was non-existent at WR.

This offense needs multiple great WRs to get to the playoff level and the staff seems intent on providing the bodies while high quality recruits are high on us.

Slade has said he will play a lot of slot WR.

 

[NittanyOpp]

He smiles when you mention Penn State!!!

Got to luv our chances!!!

I don't really at all, isn't Don Bosco a feeder school to Michigan? Think it will be a small miracle at this point if we even have room if we get Enis (pretty much a guarantee) and Walker.

 

[TheGLOV]

I don't really at all, isn't Don Bosco a feeder school to Michigan? Think it will be a small miracle at this point if we even have room if we get Enis (pretty much a guarantee) and Walker.

I'll take just 1 out of 3.

Any more than that is just GRAVY!!!

 

[dmdpsu]

He smiles when you mention Penn State!!!

Got to luv our chances!!!

This kid has charisma. I have heard very little about Friday. Thought he was aloof because he didn't seem to talk much. After hearing him speak, he seems very intelligent and articulate. Would love to get this guy.

 

[PSUcup1]

Luketa is a EE??

Didn’t know that

 

[TheGLOV]

Luketa is a EE??

Didn’t know that

He's an old school, 277-volt, kind of kid!

ZING!

 

[TheGLOV]

I don't really at all, isn't Don Bosco a feeder school to Michigan? Think it will be a small miracle at this point if we even have room if we get Enis (pretty much a guarantee) and Walker.

Could Walker be our 'Wilkins' was it that went to Clemson last year,..this year?

 

[NittanyOpp]

Luketa is a EE??

Didn’t know that

I think Luketa shows up on the field earlier than most are predicting. I see him as the next big time backer at PSU and we all know he's a leader. Guy kills people on the field. I guess if we can afford to RS him this year great, but I'm not convinced he doesn't show out sooner than later. Tons of talent.

 

[NittanyOpp]

Could Walker be our 'Wilkins' was it that went to Clemson last year,..this year?

Or our Tyreke Smith this year? I'm afraid so at this point but Bowen should help us. I just think Urb, though he has a great class, is pulling out all the stops to get some of these kids late, because a. he lost some big time kids at these positions last minute b. he is just trying to ensure PSU doesn't get them.

cUM is nervous now, make no mistake about it, he knows damn well We Are coming for him.

 

[Judge Smails]