I caught up with contacts briefly this morning to ask about the new wide receiver offers that have gone out in the Class of 2021. If you've been paying attention, Penn State has offered four 2021 wide receivers over the past 16 days.
The latest offer went out Monday night to Florida native Oronde Gadsden, son of the former Miami Dolphins wide receiver. I caught up with Gadsden Tuesday to get a better for his talks with the staff:
"I've been talking to Coach [Taylor] Stubblefield for awhile," Gadsden said. "I was originally talking to him while he was at Miami. I don't know very much about Penn State yet. I've heard good things about the school, education-wise and all that, and I know what they're all about in football, but the history of the school and a lot of other things I still have to learn about."
So far, Gadsden has visited Alabama, Baylor, Clemson, Georgia, Maryland, Miami and South Carolina. He said that Georgia Tech, Syracuse, UCF and USF were recruiting him the hardest.
I also spoke with Demetrius Cannon, a three-star prospect out of St. Louis. Cannon was offered by Penn State back on May 2.
"Coach Franklin is a nice guy. I think I can relate to him and he is easy to talk with. I feel the same way about Coach Stubbs. I know that Penn State is one of the best programs around. They send a lot of guys to the league and have an amazing fan base. I've done a lot of research about the school, too."
Cannon added that Penn State is one of a few schools recruiting him the hardest, along with Illinois, Indiana, Louisville, Missouri and Vanderbilt. So far, he's visited Arkansas, Illinois, Purdue and Vanderbilt.
The other two receivers are Tennessee commit Jordan Mosley and Rivals250 member Isaiah Brevard.
So, what's the deal with these offers? I'm being told that Penn State is trying to keep one foot in the door with each in case their top targets head elsewhere. None of these guys are really ahead of the others. All are intriguing, but none are near the top of the recruiting board. Without being able to host visits, many schools are finding that they have to extend verbal scholarship offers just to start the process of building a relationship. That's what a lot of these are. Stubblefield likes what he's seen and he wants to build relationships with them in case he needs to take things to another level down the road.
As for those top targets, not much has changed. Jalil Farooq is expected to go to Oklahoma, but Kaden Prather and Dont'e Thornton are still very much in the mix. Prather remains the player to focus on in the near future. I was again told that Penn State feels good about Prather, although there are some people that wonder what more he needs to see or hear, especially with visits suspended.
There are other wide receivers to monitor. I continue to hear that Andrel Anthony has a lot of interest in Penn State. If Prather went elsewhere, he may be the next man up. Florida native Jaden Alexis, West Virginia commit Andrew Wilson-Lamp and South Carolina native O'Mega Blake are a few other receivers that Stubblefield continues to work on.
Two other notes:
- With only about eight scholarships remaining, I asked two sources about which positions the staff could potentially skip in 2021. This shouldn't come as a major surprise, but I was told that the three positions to monitor are running back, tight end and defensive tackle. One person said that there's a chance Penn State could take either a tight end or a running back, instead of taking both. As of now, they want to add a player at both positions, but as we get deeper into the class, that's something to monitor. If you look at the defensive tackle scholarship chart, it's clear that Penn State has plenty of young depth after last year's class, but that's also position that rotates. All it takes is one player to not reach his potential, another player to transfer, plus a year where they skip at defensive tackle, and all of sudden that depth goes away quickly. When you add in the talent throughout the region, I'd be surprised if we don't see a defensive tackle.
- I had another source mention to me that just three offensive linemen is a real possibility. Now let me clarify: I would still lean towards four offensive linemen in this class, but I get the impression that Nolan Rucci is what that number hinges on. It feels like there's less confidence in Tristan Leigh, which we've seen coming for awhile now, but also Rocco Spindler. Tackles Caleb Johnson (Auburn) and Matt Wyoff (Texas A&M) both committed this past week. I haven't heard much new on Rayshaun Benny or Drew Kendall, although I think PSU has to get Kendall on campus to have a chance. Most of my colleagues expect Kendall to end up at Michigan. As of now, I think most of the focus should probably be on Diego Pounds and Rucci.
The latest offer went out Monday night to Florida native Oronde Gadsden, son of the former Miami Dolphins wide receiver. I caught up with Gadsden Tuesday to get a better for his talks with the staff:
"I've been talking to Coach [Taylor] Stubblefield for awhile," Gadsden said. "I was originally talking to him while he was at Miami. I don't know very much about Penn State yet. I've heard good things about the school, education-wise and all that, and I know what they're all about in football, but the history of the school and a lot of other things I still have to learn about."
So far, Gadsden has visited Alabama, Baylor, Clemson, Georgia, Maryland, Miami and South Carolina. He said that Georgia Tech, Syracuse, UCF and USF were recruiting him the hardest.
I also spoke with Demetrius Cannon, a three-star prospect out of St. Louis. Cannon was offered by Penn State back on May 2.
"Coach Franklin is a nice guy. I think I can relate to him and he is easy to talk with. I feel the same way about Coach Stubbs. I know that Penn State is one of the best programs around. They send a lot of guys to the league and have an amazing fan base. I've done a lot of research about the school, too."
Cannon added that Penn State is one of a few schools recruiting him the hardest, along with Illinois, Indiana, Louisville, Missouri and Vanderbilt. So far, he's visited Arkansas, Illinois, Purdue and Vanderbilt.
The other two receivers are Tennessee commit Jordan Mosley and Rivals250 member Isaiah Brevard.
So, what's the deal with these offers? I'm being told that Penn State is trying to keep one foot in the door with each in case their top targets head elsewhere. None of these guys are really ahead of the others. All are intriguing, but none are near the top of the recruiting board. Without being able to host visits, many schools are finding that they have to extend verbal scholarship offers just to start the process of building a relationship. That's what a lot of these are. Stubblefield likes what he's seen and he wants to build relationships with them in case he needs to take things to another level down the road.
As for those top targets, not much has changed. Jalil Farooq is expected to go to Oklahoma, but Kaden Prather and Dont'e Thornton are still very much in the mix. Prather remains the player to focus on in the near future. I was again told that Penn State feels good about Prather, although there are some people that wonder what more he needs to see or hear, especially with visits suspended.
There are other wide receivers to monitor. I continue to hear that Andrel Anthony has a lot of interest in Penn State. If Prather went elsewhere, he may be the next man up. Florida native Jaden Alexis, West Virginia commit Andrew Wilson-Lamp and South Carolina native O'Mega Blake are a few other receivers that Stubblefield continues to work on.
Two other notes:
- With only about eight scholarships remaining, I asked two sources about which positions the staff could potentially skip in 2021. This shouldn't come as a major surprise, but I was told that the three positions to monitor are running back, tight end and defensive tackle. One person said that there's a chance Penn State could take either a tight end or a running back, instead of taking both. As of now, they want to add a player at both positions, but as we get deeper into the class, that's something to monitor. If you look at the defensive tackle scholarship chart, it's clear that Penn State has plenty of young depth after last year's class, but that's also position that rotates. All it takes is one player to not reach his potential, another player to transfer, plus a year where they skip at defensive tackle, and all of sudden that depth goes away quickly. When you add in the talent throughout the region, I'd be surprised if we don't see a defensive tackle.
- I had another source mention to me that just three offensive linemen is a real possibility. Now let me clarify: I would still lean towards four offensive linemen in this class, but I get the impression that Nolan Rucci is what that number hinges on. It feels like there's less confidence in Tristan Leigh, which we've seen coming for awhile now, but also Rocco Spindler. Tackles Caleb Johnson (Auburn) and Matt Wyoff (Texas A&M) both committed this past week. I haven't heard much new on Rayshaun Benny or Drew Kendall, although I think PSU has to get Kendall on campus to have a chance. Most of my colleagues expect Kendall to end up at Michigan. As of now, I think most of the focus should probably be on Diego Pounds and Rucci.
