Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup: March 18, 2016

This weekend will be an important recruiting weekend for the Nittany Lions. Penn State will host a contingency of players from Florida’s IMG Academy while they are on spring break this weekend, and this contingency includes some of Penn State’s top targets for the 2017 recruiting class.

IMG Group To Visit
The group from IMG that will be on campus this weekend will include two of Penn State’s top offensive line targets for 2017 in four-star guard Robert Hainsey, originally a native of Monroeville (PA), and four-star center Cesar Ruiz who is originally from New Jersey. In fact, I’d argue that Hainsey is Penn State’s top offensive line target for the 2017 recruiting class.

According to PennLive.com, joining Ruiz and Hainsey will be their three-star teammate in cornerback Elivs Hines. Hines is an under the radar prospect that I am high on, and I expect him to receive a Penn State offer this weekend.

Hainsey appears to be a battle between the Nittany Lions, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and possibly Notre Dame. Ruiz on the other hand might be just a three horse race between the Nittany Lions, Michigan, and North Carolina. I expect the Nittany Lions to also have a shot with Hines if/when they extend a scholarship offer.

Fred Hansard Sets Announcement Date
Four-star Princeton (NJ) defensive tackle Fred Hansard announced earlier this week that he will be announcing his college commitment on his birthday on May 14. Hansard’s decision will come down to Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, and Tennessee.

Hansard is a player that seemed very high on Penn State early on, but he has not visited campus since last summer. However, Hansard plans to visit each of his finalists again before he makes his decision. Also, it is believed that distance from home could be a factor for Hansard which should benefit the Nittany Lions.

Hansard is also a player that likes to play the social media game, though. Furthermore, he seems to have decided to set his commitment date out of absolutely nowhere. Due to this, I will not be surprised if the first school Hansard commits to is not the last.

D’Andre Swift
Could the Nittany Lions land the nation’s top running back for a second consecutive season? It certainly seems possible.

Philadelphia native D’Andre Swift has visited Penn State more than any other school. In fact, his visits to Penn State outnumber all the other visits he has made combined. Also working in favor of the Nittany Lions is that Swift is extremely close with former high school teammate, and current Nittany Lion, John Reid.

Also, Swift is cousins with class of 2017 wide receiver Mark Webb. Webb is viewed as a heavy, heavy Penn State lean. So getting him in the fold with the Nittany Lions’ 2017 recruiting class, which seems to be a question of when and not if, should help with Swift as well.

According to Scout’s Brian Dohn, Swift has a top group of Penn State, Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, and Oregon. And Swift would like to visit this schools this spring.

In his interview with Dohn, Swift has some very good things to say about the Nittany Lion program and coaches. Furthermore, he mentions that Penn State’s incredibly talented stable of running backs does not scare him off because he loves competition. Penn State having such a deep, talented backfield is something some people feared would scare Swift away.

I would expect Swift, who last visited Penn State for their junior day in February, to pop up on campus again some time this spring. Honestly, I get the vibe that Swift wants to go to Penn State. They often say see what a prospect does not what they say, and what he has done more than anything is visit Penn State.

I believe the biggest hurdle for Penn State to landing Swift will be showing an improved product on the field this fall. If Joe Moorhead’s offense show signs of improvement this fall, which I fully expect it to, and if the Nittany Lions can increase their win total I like their chances with Swift.

Spring Visits
Spring practice will begin for the Nittany Lions tomorrow. I expect to see a lot of Penn State’s top targets begin to visit campus to check out spring practices in the coming weeks. It will all culminate with the big recruiting weekend during the weekend of the Blue White Game on April 16.

As I have said before, I would expect to see a lot of the usual suspects to pop up on campus between now and the spring game. As well as during the spring game. Avery Roberts, Carter Warren, CJ Thorpe, D’Andre Swift, David Adams, Elijah Conliffe, Kurt Hinish, Lamont Wade, Mark Webb, Nathan Proctor, and Robert Martin are all among the players that come to mind here.

That will do it for this week. As always, stay tuned here at VBR for breaking Penn State recruiting news. Especially during what should be a busy time for recruiting this spring.