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Football 2022 signee Maleek McNeil no longer with Penn State

Had hopes for McNeil when recruited.....the old adage that you cannot teach 6'8" 340 lbs. who also punted for his highschool team. Was supposed to be a long term prospect, but not to be. Needing some OTs.

Tengwell needs to get healthy from surgery and begin working on his OT sets....... the inside part of the line, barring injury seems pretty strong for next year.......needs another 1 or 2 OTs to show up......... Hard to get an OT out of the portal, maybe we can find someone who wants 1 more year of Football before trying to go to NFL, like AE last year.
 
Had hopes for McNeil when recruited.....the old adage that you cannot teach 6'8" 340 lbs. who also punted for his highschool team. Was supposed to be a long term prospect, but not to be. Needing some OTs.

Tengwell needs to get healthy from surgery and begin working on his OT sets....... the inside part of the line, barring injury seems pretty strong for next year.......needs another 1 or 2 OTs to show up......... Hard to get an OT out of the portal, maybe we can find someone who wants 1 more year of Football before trying to go to NFL, like AE last year.
All great points.
 
They're going to be looking hard at the portal for a couple O-linemen, but there's always a ton of competition for them. Nourzad has worked out as well as could have been expected. Michigan got the transfer from UVA whom we were also after, and he's been outstanding for them. The MAC schools and the Dakota teams have produced a lot of NFL lineman so maybe there's some options to look at there.
 
1. McNeil is a quitter.
2. The portal is such a crapshoot in a situation like this because we could honestly return a full starting line. So you are telling an OL to come and compete for a spot.
 
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we may be able to get someone off of Virginia or Virginia Tech due to a challenging year for those two schools. Not convinced that either made great off season head coaching hires..............
 
They're going to be looking hard at the portal for a couple O-linemen, but there's always a ton of competition for them. Nourzad has worked out as well as could have been expected. Michigan got the transfer from UVA whom we were also after, and he's been outstanding for them. The MAC schools and the Dakota teams have produced a lot of NFL lineman so maybe there's some options to look at there.
At this point, with how the play of the younger OL players and the line overall line have progressed, it seems Trautwein's talent evaluation and development skills seem to b be trending in the positive. So I wouldn't be too alarmed about the loss of a project, while wishing him all the best. I would also assume this would factor positively in influencing portal transfers.
 
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They're going to be looking hard at the portal for a couple O-linemen, but there's always a ton of competition for them. Nourzad has worked out as well as could have been expected. Michigan got the transfer from UVA whom we were also after, and he's been outstanding for them. The MAC schools and the Dakota teams have produced a lot of NFL lineman so maybe there's some options to look at there.
They will look. But olinemen that play OT well for 2nd tier P5 and MAC type schools are usually not talented enough to play OT at a level that PSU needs. In the rare case that they are, NFL talent evaluators have already told them so and they are looking more to the draft than to transfer.

Nourzad I believe played OT very well in the Ivey League. But if he could dance on his feet to the level required to play OT well against UM and oh-high-ya I believe that's where he would be playing for PSU.

So as Soupy above stated, PSU's best bet in the near term to field 2 above average OT's seems to rest with Shelton, Tengwall, and possibly Williams and Donkoh from the 2023 class.

It would be great news if PSU could some how get a commit from one of the few top high school OT's that are uncommitted, but more than likely the only options will be to add 1 or 2 project type potential OT players to the 2023 class, from JC or high school, just like they did when they took McNeal in the 2022 class.....
 
1. McNeil is a quitter.
2. The portal is such a crapshoot in a situation like this because we could honestly return a full starting line. So you are telling an OL to come and compete for a spot.
Why are you calling him a "quitter"? How do you know that he didn't come to the realization that he is not a D1 caliber player and does not have the skillset to play on Penn State's Football Team? I think it was well described that he was a big project coming out of high school.
 
They will look. But olinemen that play OT well for 2nd tier P5 and MAC type schools are usually not talented enough to play OT at a level that PSU needs. In the rare case that they are, NFL talent evaluators have already told them so and they are looking more to the draft than to transfer.

Nourzad I believe played OT very well in the Ivey League. But if he could dance on his feet to the level required to play OT well against UM and oh-high-ya I believe that's where he would be playing for PSU.

So as Soupy above stated, PSU's best bet in the near term to field 2 above average OT's seems to rest with Shelton, Tengwall, and possibly Williams and Donkoh from the 2023 class.

It would be great news if PSU could some how get a commit from one of the few top high school OT's that are uncommitted, but more than likely the only options will be to add 1 or 2 project type potential OT players to the 2023 class, from JC or high school, just like they did when they took McNeal in the 2022 class.....
You would have to think Fashanu coming in and earning a high draft grade as a 19 year old might be influential with young OT recruits. Fashanu wasn't even rated all that high out of HS.
 
The biggest flashing red light was that in the last two games walk on freshmen OLine men were playing instead of him. Maybe the kid isn’t stupid and read the tea leaves. If so best to get on with your life somewhere else. I wish him well.
 
You would have to think Fashanu coming in and earning a high draft grade as a 19 year old might be influential with young OT recruits. Fashanu wasn't even rated all that high out of HS.
Yep, that should help going forward. But it seems that the 2023 class options are somewhat imited.

But right now it seems the best case scenrio would be for Tengwall and Shelton to anchor the OT spots for the next 2 years (with Effner possibly as a backup in 2023 along with Christ), and then possibly one or two of the OT's in the 2023 and 2024 classes would be ready to replace them.
 
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Why are you calling him a "quitter"? How do you know that he didn't come to the realization that he is not a D1 caliber player and does not have the skillset to play on Penn State's Football Team? I think it was well described that he was a big project coming out of high school.
Because he quit. Because he didn't finish what he started. I am not saying he needed to come back at the end of the semester, but don't quit. He could have finished the season, been a great teammate, and been part of probably a Bowl Championship Ring.

My point is, don't quit.....stick it out until it is over and then don't do it again, if your heart is not in it. I have no respect for McNeil, Ford, and all others that quit. Could the coaches quit them in the middle of the season?
 
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The biggest flashing red light was that in the last two games walk on freshmen OLine men were playing instead of him. Maybe the kid isn’t stupid and read the tea leaves. If so best to get on with your life somewhere else. I wish him well.
Maybe he had already told the coaches he was moving on by then.
 
Because he quit. Because he didn't finish what he started. I am not saying he needed to come back at the end of the semester, but don't quit. He could have finished the season, been a great teammate, and been part of probably a Bowl Championship Ring.

My point is, don't quit.....stick it out until it is over and then don't do it again, if your heart is not in it. I have no respect for McNeil, Ford, and all others that quit. Could the coaches quit them in the middle of the season?
Yes, why quit now. If he knows he’s not a PSU quality player, just stick it out on the scout time until the end of the season, then transfer.

i just think he doesn’t want to play football anymore.
 
Why are you calling him a "quitter"? How do you know that he didn't come to the realization that he is not a D1 caliber player and does not have the skillset to play on Penn State's Football Team? I think it was well described that he was a big project coming out of high school.
Yep, maybe he left the team knowing that he can reach his athletic goals somewhere else and that it would be better for him going forward to focus on finishing this semester by focusing on his classes to improve his transfer options educationally.

For all we know he may have decide to give up football altogether.

Hopefully the young man and his parents or advisors will help him make the best decision for him, not PSU football, as most rational adults would advise their son to do............
 
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The problem of the world.....people on here are actually advocating quitting and then justifying why he might have quit.
 
Problem of the world. People that have no idea of what a young man's decision making involves make judgements and then proceed to criticize the young man or classify him as a "quitter".
 
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Because he quit. Because he didn't finish what he started. I am not saying he needed to come back at the end of the semester, but don't quit. He could have finished the season, been a great teammate, and been part of probably a Bowl Championship Ring.

My point is, don't quit.....stick it out until it is over and then don't do it again, if your heart is not in it. I have no respect for McNeil, Ford, and all others that quit. Could the coaches quit them in the middle of the season?


Vs the 99% who quit at a lower level. Which group are you?
 
Yes, why quit now. If he knows he’s not a PSU quality player, just stick it out on the scout time until the end of the season, then transfer.

i just think he doesn’t want to play football anymore.

better for the team that he leave now. Let those who want to be here get the reps and coaching in practice and don’t waste such resources on someone who isn’t currently contributing or going to in the future. Trautwein’s time is too valuable and limited to waste any of it.
 
I went to high school with a guy his size who didn't even start for our football team. He also couldn't dunk a basketball...picture a big "Tin Man' from the Wizard of Oz with the "Scarecrows" brain. Our all boys catholic school in Delaware is a regional power...so the guy had to earn his snaps...which were very few.

One day Howard Schnellenberger was in our building....dude got a full ride to Da U and was on their Bernie Kosar championship team. Mostly just was on PAT line but occasionally saw snaps at Tackle in blow outs.

These projects are hit or miss....I remember hearing about the more athletic guys on our team knocking him around in practice for fun as he simply was uncoordinated. I can easily see how someone like that could possibly lose love for the game.

Good luck to the young man...and thanks for giving us your best.
 
1. McNeil is a quitter.
2. The portal is such a crapshoot in a situation like this because we could honestly return a full starting line. So you are telling an OL to come and compete for a spot.
If you have NFL ability/aspirations as a junior or senior transfer, you should start at any college. If you don't, you won't, play in the league.
 
They're going to be looking hard at the portal for a couple O-linemen, but there's always a ton of competition for them. Nourzad has worked out as well as could have been expected. Michigan got the transfer from UVA whom we were also after, and he's been outstanding for them. The MAC schools and the Dakota teams have produced a lot of NFL lineman so maybe there's some options to look at there.
For the portal OLs, blocking for the freshmen RBs we have may be a big plus.
 
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