Penn State Recruiting 11/18/10

-DB Nick Stoner – New offer out.  DB from Indiana, Nick Stoner.  About 6’1, almost 6’2.  Has a 34 inch vertical.  10.82 speed in the 100 M.  So the guy is obviously an athlete.  3-Star from most sites.  Currently, committed to Indiana.  But from the sounds of it, that won’t last long.  He’ll be visiting Penn State within the next 2-3 weeks, and will commit rather soon as well.  Not going to say he is a “lock” yet, but as long as PSU stays on him, he is there’s.

-DT Darian Cooper – Like I stated recently, Cooper has two colleges that seem to be the head of the pact in Penn State and Georgia Tech.  He didn’t flat out say “Penn State and GT are my leader”, but he gave a strong indication.  He’ll be visiting sometime in December.  Just more background on him, he is a DT from DeMatha High School, which is in Maryland.  If you didn’t know, DeMatha is a high school power house.  Arguably, a top 10 high school program in the country.  They have numerous D1 players, and I think they may have the most players in the NFL, but not totally sure on that.  Lot’s of players move to play at DeMatha.  Just for example, their OL right now is…Cyrus Kouandjio (6’7 325, 5-Star OT, said PSU was too strict for him), OT/OG Richard Webb (6’7 320; 2012, PSU interest, will be visiting for the MSU game), and  OT Kelby Johnson (6’8 275, committed to UVa).  That is 3/5 of their OL so this is a massive program, so Cooper is going against the best of the best everyday.  Speaking of DeMatha, 2012 DE Brent Wilkerson (6’4 240) will be visiting with Richard Webb for the Michigan State game.  Has an offer from Virginia already, and will probably be a 4-Star DE.  Another guy visiting is Sam Lebbie, a LB.  6’2 215, has an offer from Maryland already.  Said he likes Penn State and Ohio State.  Another name to look out for.

-DB Devin Mayo – 2012 DB, seems to really like Penn State.  Listed at 5’11 190, plays for Friendship Academy in Maryland, where 2012 5-Star DT, Eddie Goldman goes.  Goldman is 6’4 310, and has one of the most impressive bull rushes for a high school player in years.  Back to Mayo, will probably be a Northeast offer guy.  Boston College, Rutgers, Pitt, West Virginia, Maryalnd…those types of schools.  Just a name to keep an eye on.

-DE Ken Ekamen – 2012 DE from Virginia.  6’3 230, already has offers from Boston College, Duke, Virginia, and Maryland.  Will be visiting Penn State for the Michigan State game.  Another future 4-Star.

-DB Terry Richardson – 2012 DB from Michigan.  Very odd prospect, in the terms of how his recruitment is going.  He has offers from only three schools…Alabama, LSU, and Iowa.  Doesn’t have any others, no Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, etc.  Anyway, 5’9 165, probable 4-Star.  Really likes Penn State…is actually friends with Rob Bolden and James Ross (2012 LB…PSU is on him) too.  He and James are trying to visit for the Michigan State game, but right now Richardson’s team is 12-0 and may end up playing in the state championship game which is on the same weekend as the PSU/MSU game.  Still, interest here is high.

-OG Brian Gaia – 2012 OG from Maryland.  Plays for Gilman…which is quietly becoming a great school as well.  Had Darius Jennings this year, to go along with an OL who is heading to Wake Forest.  Next year will have Cyrus Jones (WR, Probably Top 100 recruit, PSU is on him) and Kenneth Goins (ATH, probably a 3-Star, He really likes PSU).  Anyway, Gaia has offers from Alabama and Penn State.  Will be visiting for the Michigan State game with Goins.  Things look good in the early going.

Instead of your regular recruiting article, I’ll be having my “Thanksgiving Predictions”.  Which is where I’ll take every single recruit Penn State has offered, and predict where they will end up.  I’m pretty pumped for it.  Hope you guys are too.

Now Ohio State-Penn State…can’t say I’m shocked.  I had a feeling we would be winning for a bit, but just knew eventually, McGloin would become stagnant, and the OSU defense would know exactly what to do.  Apparently, in the 2nd Half, Haplea (when on the field) was open ALL the time…but McGloin never even looked his way.  McGloin’s struggles mixed with our Run D…not a good mix.  That Run D also went way down when Michael Mauti got injured.  Such a shame…he has been playing great, and now has (As Joe Pa would say) “a shoulder”.  Hopefully, he is back on the field for Michigan State because we will need him.

Just real quickly on the Bolden and McGloin debate…go read Ben’s article on Bolden.  My exact thoughts.

Now for Indiana…I just don’t have a good feeling about this game.  I think we do win, but that Mauti injury really hurts us in my opinion.  He is probably our best LB in coverage, and Indiana throws the ball a lot.  If he was out there, I would feel very confident.  Now, I’m not quite as confident.  I just don’t trust Bani and Colasanti.  Luckily though, it looks like Hodges will take Mauti’s spot in the Nickel (Most passing situations) which makes the most sense.  Also, we are facing a rather immobile QB with a hip injury…after facing Robinson, Persa, and Pryor.  God, Mauti would have been great here.

I hoped Bolden would be out there for Indiana, but it looks like McGloin will get the start again.  We’ll probably do our usual against lesser talented teams…be able to run at will against them, then that will set up McGloin for play action.  I expect a massive day from Silas Redd…right around 150 yards.  He’ll look so great, he’ll make me want to pee my pants (See what I did there?).

Bottom line for Indiana, I think if Mauti is out there, it could be a dominating performance.  One where our D looks really good, and our O is putting up the points.  Now, I think Indiana will be able to score a little more, but luckily for us, our offense will do more than enough to win.

Penn State – 41

Indiana – 28 (With Mauti, this is like a 17)

One quick note, I hate not getting Big Ten Network.

Thanks for reading.  Follow me on twitter at: twitter.com/itspatrickh.  I usually just complain about other PSU fans and talk about PSU there.