Blue White Illustrated recruiting analyst Ryan Snyder and I are here live from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore for the Rivals.com Five-Star Challenge.
They're still in progress, but we have a few initial impressions to share right off the bat from the OL/DL session earlier this morning.
1) As expected, Rashan Gary was arguably the top defensive tackle of the group today. He's not only ahead of most of these prospects physically but from a technical standpoint he's really impressed all of the coaches in attendance.
2) Among the defensive ends, like previous camps, Shane Simmons can tend to be outmuscled at times - which is to be expected. He continues to improve with some of his hand movements and technique, but most of these offensive linemen have the bodies to outmuscle him. When he did go to his strength, which is his speed, he had some success. But he's here to continue to work on his hands, which he's been trying to improve on throughout the reps.
Because he was trying to work on his rip moves and hand action, it wasn't really a dominating performance by any means, but that's to be expected when he's working on his own improvement more than necessarily beating his man.
3) Another one of the prospects here Penn State will be watching closely is Josh Kaindoh. He had a strong performance and was able to use his size, speed and strength to beat multiple offensive tackles. He's already a solid prospect, and as a 2017 kid who could improve the way he's currently projecting to do, he'll be one of the top prospects in the region next year.
He impressed multiple coaches today.
4) Terrence Davis, the offensive lineman, consistently was able to get the best of the defensive tackles and won probably 80 percent of his matchups today. His footwork was better than we thought he might be and he had a great first punch. Arguably he's the most impressive guard of the group today.
5) Cesar Ruiz - a 2017 prospect - has yet to pick up a Penn State offer according to Ryan. The staff wanted him to be in attendance for an event June 20, but he elected to go to Florida that day. He wants to get to Penn State before the end of July and it sounds like the staff has stepped up its interest lately, so there's a chance he gets an offer by the end of the summer.
He also had a solid performance but he's a little undersized compared to most of the prospects here. As he continues to grow, if he continues to grow, it's obvious to see why so many coaches are jumping on him early. Multiple coaches praised his footwork, but because he's a bit undersized.
We'll have more to come this afternoon, but wanted to get this out to you guys for the time being.
They're still in progress, but we have a few initial impressions to share right off the bat from the OL/DL session earlier this morning.
1) As expected, Rashan Gary was arguably the top defensive tackle of the group today. He's not only ahead of most of these prospects physically but from a technical standpoint he's really impressed all of the coaches in attendance.
2) Among the defensive ends, like previous camps, Shane Simmons can tend to be outmuscled at times - which is to be expected. He continues to improve with some of his hand movements and technique, but most of these offensive linemen have the bodies to outmuscle him. When he did go to his strength, which is his speed, he had some success. But he's here to continue to work on his hands, which he's been trying to improve on throughout the reps.
Because he was trying to work on his rip moves and hand action, it wasn't really a dominating performance by any means, but that's to be expected when he's working on his own improvement more than necessarily beating his man.
3) Another one of the prospects here Penn State will be watching closely is Josh Kaindoh. He had a strong performance and was able to use his size, speed and strength to beat multiple offensive tackles. He's already a solid prospect, and as a 2017 kid who could improve the way he's currently projecting to do, he'll be one of the top prospects in the region next year.
He impressed multiple coaches today.
4) Terrence Davis, the offensive lineman, consistently was able to get the best of the defensive tackles and won probably 80 percent of his matchups today. His footwork was better than we thought he might be and he had a great first punch. Arguably he's the most impressive guard of the group today.
5) Cesar Ruiz - a 2017 prospect - has yet to pick up a Penn State offer according to Ryan. The staff wanted him to be in attendance for an event June 20, but he elected to go to Florida that day. He wants to get to Penn State before the end of July and it sounds like the staff has stepped up its interest lately, so there's a chance he gets an offer by the end of the summer.
He also had a solid performance but he's a little undersized compared to most of the prospects here. As he continues to grow, if he continues to grow, it's obvious to see why so many coaches are jumping on him early. Multiple coaches praised his footwork, but because he's a bit undersized.
We'll have more to come this afternoon, but wanted to get this out to you guys for the time being.
