Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup 1/20/16

With National Signing Day now just two weeks away, and the Nittany Lions primed to sign a second-consecutive top-15 recruiting class, the mad dash to the finish line is in full effect. In the past few days there has been a lot of recruiting news surrounding the Nittany Lions, and this weekend is shaping up to be a huge one for Penn State on terms of recruiting. So, away we go!

Andrew Pryts
We’ll start with the Hermitage (PA) and legacy commit, safety Andrew Pryts. The son of ex-Nittany Lion linebacker Ed Pryts, Andrew has been committed to Penn State since August. However, when defensive coordinator Bob Shoop announced he was leaving for Tennessee, Pryts’ commitment became a bit murky.

Shoop was both Pryts’ primary recruiter, and would have been his position coach. Penn State appeared to be totally out of Pryts’ recruitment throughout much of the summer until Shoop was able to reel him in. Needless to say, Shoop is a big reason Pryts committed to Penn State.

This past weekend Pryts took an official visit to Stanford, and was originally slated to officially visit UCLA this weekend. However, his plans have changed. Pryts received a visit from Penn State’s defensive coaching staff on Tuesday night, and he will be taking an official visit to Penn State this weekend.

While the Nittany Lions are not completely out of the woods with Pryts quite yet, they are in a much better position now than they were on Monday morning. Also, I feel a lot better about the chances of the Nittany Lions keeping him in the fold than I did a few days ago.

Michael Dwumfour/Quinn Nordin
Both defensive tackle commit Michael Dwumfour and kicker commit Quinn Nordin took official visits to Michigan this past weekend. While that is concerning, the fact both left still committed to Penn State is a good sign. While neither of these recruitments are over yet, Penn State has dodged this bullet.

Based on a conversation I had with a source on the Michigan side of things this is what I have been led to believe with these two. Right now, neither of them hold a committable offer from Michigan. If that were to change, odds are they would flip their commitment to the Wolverines.

Now, some of Michigan’s top remaining targets will not announce until signing day. Due to this, these recruitments might be two that the Nittany Lions are stuck sweating out until February 3. Both are slated to take an official visit to Penn State this weekend.

Miles Sanders/Lavert Hill
Now we have reached the really good news portion of this week’s recruiting roundup. After a visit from Terry Smith Saturday morning and then the entire offensive coaching staff on Saturday night, it appears Penn State has won the Miles Sanders war.

The 5-star running back had an official visit to Michigan State scheduled for the 29th, but Miles Tweeted on Sunday that he is 100% committed to Penn State and that his official visit to Happy Valley this weekend will be the only one he takes.

For more than one reason, locking up Miles is obviously huge. First off, the Nittany Lions are on the brink of having the best stable of running backs in the Big Ten, if not the entire FBS, with Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, and Andre Robinson. Also, by beating out Michigan State for his services they prevent him from going to a Big Ten East foe where the Nittany Lions would have had to deal with facing him every season.

Oh, and Miles Tweeted this fantastic picture where he and fellow Pittsburgh natives Joe Moorhead and Matt Limegrover are trolling Pitt in a subtle, yet creative, way.

Penn State hosted former cornerback commit Lavert Hill on an unexpected official visit this past weekend. By all accounts the visit went better than anyone expected, and the Nittany Lions appear to have given themselves a chance at getting Hill to re-commit to Penn State.

Hill has had a top-two of Michigan and Michigan State since de-committing from Penn State in November, but now the Nittany Lions appear to be back in the mix as well. Hill’s visit was highlighted by him getting recognized at the hockey game Saturday night, which set Twitter on fire as fan bases from Pittsburgh to East Lansing thought the Nittany Lions had committed an NCAA violation, even though they did not.

New Offers
On Tuesday the Nittany Lion coaching staff extended a pair of offers to WRs committed to other schools in Rutgers commit Taysir Mack and Temple commit Dae’lun Darien. Furthermore, offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead also visited Mack on Tuesday.

Both of these offers are interesting ones as Penn State is still in play for Florida wide receiver Tre Nixon, as well as Michigan commit Nate Johnson and Minnesota commit Dredrick Snelson. Wide receiver is not a need for Penn State in this class and I would be surprised if they took more than one wide receiver in the 2016 class.

Darien is a player that reminds me of Aaron Mathews. He has intriguing size and length, and is probably better suited to play a position other than wide receiver in college- possibly tsight end or defensive end.

In my opinion, Mack and Darien are guys that Penn State views as backup plans in case they miss on each of their top three wide receiver targets. I will say however, that if Mack or Darien would commit to the Nittany Lions, I believe they would still take one of their other top targets. But, I do not believe they would take both Mack and Darien.

Official Visitor Weekend
Weather permitting, the Nittany Lions have a huge weekend in terms of visitors ahead of them. As of this writing, all 14 commits in the 2016 recruiting class that were not early enrollees are slated to be in Happy Valley on official visits. Top remaining targets such as linebacker Brendan Ferns, athlete Khaleke Hudson, and cornerback Damar Hamlin are all slated to be there as well.

With commits Andrew Pryts, Quinn Nordin, and Michael Dwumfour possibly wavering in their pledge, it is important for them to have great visits to reassure their decision to choose Penn State. Also, this is a great chance for the staff and current commits to try and sway the un-committed prospects.

While I am not expecting it, I would not rule out Penn State landing a commitment this weekend. I believe Penn State leads for Brendan Ferns, but he has said he will not announce until signing day. Also, Penn State is firmly in Khaleke Hudson’s top two along with Michigan. However, I believe he will go home to discuss things with his family before making a final decision.

The most important recruiting victory Penn State could gain this weekend might be reassuring the commitments of Andrew Pryts, Michael Dwumfour, and Quinn Nordin.

Future Visitors
New wide receiver target Dredrick Snelson, who is currently committed to Minnesota, is slated to take an official visit to Penn State on January 29. The 4-star Fort Lauderdale (FL) native took an official visit to UCF this past weekend, and will be taking one to College Park to visiting the sinking ship that is Maryland Football this upcoming weekend.

On Monday night, Snelson was paid a visit by wide receiver coach Josh Gattis and offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead at his home in Florida. It appears the Nittany Lions are quickly becoming a serious contender for Snelson.

Michigan commit Nate Johnson is also slated to take an official visit to Penn State on January 29. However, I am not sure this visit will happen. The reason for this is because Johnson will take an official visit to Notre Dame this weekend and the Fighting Irish just offered Johnson on Sunday night. I could definitely see Johnson committing to Notre Dame this weekend and then cancelling his Penn State visit.

Other Notes
Penn State fans need to continue to keep an eye on 3-star Chicago defensive tackle Amir Watts. According to Scout’s Allen Trieu, the staff was in to see him on Monday night. Penn State’s staff has really turned up the heat on Watts since Karamo Dioubate de-committed.

Watts will take an official visit to Pitt this weekend and has one scheduled for Iowa State next weekend. However, I would not be surprised at all if Watts ends up at Penn State instead of in Ames next weekend. If the Nittany Lion coaching staff gets him on campus, they will have a great shot at landing his commitment.

Another name to continue to keep an eye on is cornerback, and teammate of cornerback commit Zech McPhearson, Sir Patrick Scott. Penn State would like to take another cornerback in this class, and Scott could end up being that player.

Scott recently de-committed from Michigan, and is now considering Maryland, Penn State, and West Virginia. Do not be surprised if Scott popped up on campus for an official visit between now and signing day.

That will do it for this week. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for any breaking recruiting news between now and signing day. It should be a crazy, but fun, two weeks!