Penn State Recruiting: 1/20/11 (Barnes Commits)

If you don’t understand the title, I’ll reiterate.  Deion Barnes is a Nittany Lion, he has become the 15th verbal.  Not much drama to it either.  Had his press conference at 8:00 AM.  Said a few nice words, and then picked his hat.  Was told he only took about a minute.  More on Barnes later though.  Now, who will finish out the Penn State 2011 Class…

Donte Phillips [6’2 260 DT from WI] – Will be visiting this weekend, and will more then likely get an offer from Penn State.  Word is, he will almost certainly commit.  Then again, we heard a similar story with another Indiana commit, Nick Stoner.  As I just alluded to in my last sentence, he is/was (I believe he is, but Rivals.com says he isn’t) a commit to Indiana.  The firing of Bill Lynch seemingly (Again, I think as there are conflicting reports) soured him on Indiana and he de-committed.  Either way, it doesn’t really matter.  He’ll more then likely be a Nittany Lion after this weekend.

More on Phillips.  He plays for a “powerhouse” high school in Wisconsin, and is a bit of a later bloomer.  Just turned 17 (Barnes turned 18 today), and had a breakout season this season, as he had 13 tackles for loss to go along with 8 more sacks.

He’s already a strong kid, benching 350 and squating 435, respectively.  He’s going to need a bit of work with LJ though.  For example, Cooper wasn’t the strongest kid or the biggest kid, but his first movement was straight into the OG/C.  Very quick off the ball, just like Ogbu.  While Phillips’ very first motion is going up, and because of that he loses a bit of ground doing that.  Something very correctible, but at the same time, something very crucial because football (Even at DT) isn’t always about who is bigger.

One final thing on Cooper, there are rumors (One recruiting analyst says he saw it with his two eyes) flying around that he did something he “shouldn’t be doing” at a local bowl game.  They won’t specify what it was, but I honestly don’t want to get into it because I know so little about it.  Apparently, this “bad thing” turned the staff sour and told Cooper that there was no more room left in the class.  Obviously, we don’t know the whole story, but this is what seems to have happened.

Akise Teague [5’9 175 RB from OH] – I spoke about him a while back, as PSU was giving him a look.  Really good RB and has great film.  From Ursuline High School…Daryll Clark’s school, actually.  Was Ohio’s Mr. Football this year, accounting for over 3, 300 all purpose yards.

Anyway, he is a Cincinnati commitment, but Penn State has offered and would like Teague to visit PSU.  He is entertaining the idea, and has said Nebraska is wanting him to visit as well.  No offer from them, but he thinks they will eventually offer him.  Either way, his PSU visit isn’t set in stone, and may not happen.  But he is thinking about visiting.

Andre Sturdivant [6’3 255 DE/DT] – Before I get into the recruiting aspect of it, Andre was got a 4th Star and was moved up into the Rivals250, being placed at #244.

Now, like I have said, Sturdivant doesn’t have an OSU offer.  But, he is going on a visit there next weekend (The final weekend for visits) with his teammate Cardale Jones (QB).  Some OSU recuitniks are saying this: OSU wouldn’t bring two Glenville kids, with no offers, on an Official Visit just for the heck of it.  These Glenville kids have been up to OSU a lot of times, they know what OSU offers, so why the need for the visit?  Well, some of the OSU guys believe they will offer Sturdivant and Jones a scholarship this weekend.  We’ll see if any of this comes to fruition after the visit next weekend, but it looks like OSU now may offer Sturdivant that scholarship.  And believe me…he won’t be turning it down.  We’ll see though.

As for Shane Wynn, sounds like the staff may be moving on.  No one has been able to really confirm it, but either way, don’t expect Wynn to be a part of this class.

Some quick 2012 news, Tommy Schutt [6’3 280 DT from Ill] has been offered a verbal (the only type they can anymore) scholarship to Penn State.  As I have stated, and as Schutt has stated, he grew up a PSU fan.  He attended games in 3rd and 4th grade, and ever since, has liked PSU.  He said this is a huge offer, and he’ll be be visiting PSU soon.  Schutt looks to be one of the Top 10 DTs for the class of 2012, and would be a great addition (At this point start) to the 2012 class.  He has offers from Ohio State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Iowa, and Michigan to name some of the bigger ones.

Now, Deion Barnes.

Deion Barnes 6’5 230 DE

Strengths

• Athleticism – Extremely athletic DE who probably could have played WR at Temple or Villanova if need be.
• Quickness of the ball – Has a good first step, which is so important in being a pass rushing DE.  If you watch his one-on-one’s at camps, he is nearly impossible to stop because of his athleticism and quickness right off the ball.
• Backside Pursuit – Important for a weakside DE (Where Barnes will be playing).  Pretty much, when the play goes to the strongside, Barnes needs to be able to disengage with his blocker, and get to the strongside to stop any possible cutbacks.  Anyway, Barnes is pretty strong in this area which helps against Dual Threat QBs and RBs (obviously).

Weaknesses

• Technique – Is VERY raw.  Doesn’t really have to many pass rush moves, as he has been able to just simply dominate off athleticism.
• Plays to high – It’s all about leverage, and Barnes struggles here.  He can get to high at times, and it’s easy for an OT to push him back.  Really though, common among high school DEs.

Barnes is one of my favorite recruits.  He has great height at 6’4-6’5, not to tall and not to short.  Has a great frame to add weight, and just looks like an athlete.  I’ve been saying for a while, that I thought out of Barnes and Ishaq (mute point now), I thought Barnes would be the one to get the playing time first.  Just have a gut feeling that Barnes comes in, does well in practice, and will see some time this fall on 3rd and Long.  At the same time, a RS year could be in order, and I wouldn’t be shocked at that one bit.  Just saying, that I think Barnes could surprise some people.

Bottom line is, I think Barnes will be great.  He comes from a tough city, and a not so good neighborhood.  He has worked extremely hard to get where he is at, and I think he will take that work ethic and become a great player.  I think he comes into PSU, gets some decent playing time this upcoming season season.  Continues to get stronger and bigger (With PSU new weight system, yeah!), and is starting by 2012 at weakside DE.  I think he is an All Big Ten DE during his JR and SR seasons, and is a 1st Round NFL Draft pick.

Lofty prasie?  Going out on a limb?  Sure, but I really think Barnes becomes a great DE.  Everyone has a recruit that they think will become a star (Last year for me it was Bolden).  Some like Matt Zanny (He gets very high praise from some of the smarter PSU fans I know).  Some like Bill Belton.  Some like Angelo Mangiro.  I happen to like Barnes.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Barnes: “I am making this decision because of academics and the comfort level. I am not going to be one of those guys that just stays three years, I want to be there for four. For those reasons, I am going to Penn State.”