Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup (12/2/2015)
By Marty Leap
There is a lot of ground to cover in this week’s recruiting roundup, but we’ll get the bad news out of the way first.
On Sunday night 4-star cornerback Lavert Hill officially decommitted from Penn State. This should not have been a surprise to anyone, though. Last week, I predicted Hill would de-commit from Penn State this weekend and he has seemed ready to decommit for months. I expect him to end up at Michigan, and wish him luck in his collegiate career.
Hill’s decision makes 4-star Pittsburgh Central Catholic star Damar Hamlin an even bigger priority. Hamlin has a top four of Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Pitt, and has visited Penn State many times the past two years. He has said that early playing time is important to him, and the loss of Hill would make gaining early playing time at Penn State even more possible. I believe the staff will really put the full court press on Hamlin now.
Speaking of defensive backs, 4-star Tennessee defensive back Joejuan Williams is slated to announce his college decision on Sunday. Williams has a top group of LSU, Penn State, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, and he took an official visit to Penn State last weekend. While the Nittany Lions seem to be more of a dark horse here, I would not completely rule them out.
4-star wide receiver Tre Nixon said in an interview with 247 Sports that he plans to commit during the recruiting dead period of December 14 through January 14. Nixon has a top four of Florida, Georgia, Penn State, and Texas A&M. However, with the announcement this week that Georgia coach Mark Richt will not return next season, that may eliminate the Bulldogs. Furthermore, Florida already has 25 total commits including five wide receivers, and that could benefit the Nittany Lions as well.
Nixon could choose any school from his top group without it surprising me. Nixon possesses the type of elite, take the top off the defense speed Penn State dearly lacks on offense. So he would be a phenomenal get for Coach Franklin and company.
One last note on Nixon, keep an eye on current Georgia quarterback commit Jacob Eason. In the eyes of some recruiting analysts Eason is the top quarterback in the country for the 2016 cycle. Despite still being committed to Georgia, he has planned an official visit for Florida. Nixon has expressed interest in playing with Eason multiple times, if he were to flip to Florida that might make the Gators the leaders for Nixon.
On Monday night, class of 2018 5-star defensive end Micah Parsons Tweeted that he may commit on Saturday. According to 247 Sports, the Central Dauphin product is the third best player in the entire country for the 2018 recruiting class.
Parsons nearly committed to Penn State over the summer, but his dad would not allow him to because he wanted Micah to visit more schools. Since then he has visited Rutgers, Michigan, Michigan State, and has made multiple return trips to Penn State. If Parsons does indeed commit on Saturday, and it is not to the Nittany Lions, I’d be absolutely stunned. So keep your eye’s peeled for a ‘#WeAre … better’ Tweet from Coach Franklin on Saturday.
CONTACT PERIOD
The contact period in recruiting began this past week and goes until the recruiting dead period that begins December 14. During the contact period coaching staffs are permitted to have six off-campus visits with players, including one from the head coach.
Penn State coaches were on the road this past week. On Monday, Charles Huff visited the home of kicker commit Quinn Nordin. There appears to be some serious smoke to the ‘Nordin is going to flip to Michigan’ fire, so an in home visit from Huff was great to see.
Cornerbacks coach Terry Smith was also a busy man this week. Per PennLive, he visited class of 2017 defensive end Donovan Jeter on Monday morning. While in the Pittsburgh area on Monday, Smith also paid a visit to 5-star class of 2017 defensive back Lamont Wade and 4-star class of 2018 quarterback Phil Jurkovec. On Tuesday Smith was at Central Catholic High School, and he also dropped in on Khaleke Hudson.
Furthermore, Smith and Charles Huff had an in-home visit with running back commit Miles Sanders. This came a day after the Pitt coaching staff also had an in-home visit with Sanders, so it was nice to get the Penn State staff in to see Sanders the following day.
Monday afternoon, head coach James Franklin and quarterback coach Ricky Rahne visited class of 2016 offensive line commit Connor McGovern. On Tuesday, James Franklin joined Herb Hand in Ohio to see offensive line commit Alex Gellerstedt. Both McGovern and Gellerstedt will enroll in January.
Linebacker coach Brent Pry was in Ohio to visit 4-star linebacker Brendan Ferns, who the Nittany Lions are continuing to try and earn an official visit from. Ferns still appears to be a Penn State/West Virginia battle, and an official visit could go a long way toward helping the Nittany Lions win said battle.
On Tuesday night, wide receivers coach Josh Gattis paid an in-home visit to Tre Nixon. This was the second time since the start of the school year that Gattis was in Florida to see Nixon, and on Twitter Nixon said it was a ‘great’ visit and that it is ‘always a great time’ with Coach Gattis.
Other Penn State commits/targets that either already have or are expected to receive visits from the coaching staff this week include Damar Hamlin, Shane Simmons, Danny Dalton, and Jake Zembiec, among others.