Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup April 14, 2016

As spring football has continued on in recent weeks, so has the flurry of recruiting news coming out of Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions hosted some big visitors this past weekend, and are preparing for a big recruiting weekend during the Blue White Game on Saturday. Let’s delve into things, shall we?

Recent Visitors
The Nittany Lions hosted a slew of visitors recently, including one of their top targets for 2018.

Camp Hill (PA) tight end Zack Kuntz was back in Happy Valley over the weekend with high school teammate Michael Shuster, who is joining Penn State as a walk-on quarterback this summer. Zack is the brother of former Penn State wide receiver Christian Kuntz, and is ranked by 247 Sports as the fourteenth-best prospect in the country in the 2018 recruiting class.

Obviously, there is still a long way to go in Kuntz’s recruitment, but the Nittany Lions are in a great position early on. Kuntz is very high on Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Stanford to go along with Penn State, but the Nittany Lions might be his early leaders. Kuntz has visited Penn State multiple times, and James Franklin and the staff just need to continue to get him on campus.

Penn State also hosted a trio of 2017 targets this past weekend in wide receiver Cameron Sullivan-Brown, cornerback Deon Jones, and athlete Markquese Bell. Prior to his visit, Sullivan-Brown did not hold a Penn State offer, however, he was offered by the Nittany Lions during his trip to Happy Valley. Penn State then made a top ten list that Sullivan-Brown released on Twitter.

Archbishop Carroll (Washington D.C.) cornerback Deon Jones was the highest rated player to visit over the weekend. The four-star cornerback is one of the top 100 players in the country according to 247 Sports, and this was his first visit to Penn State. It will be an uphill battle for Penn State to become a serious player for Jones, but getting a visit from him is a start.

Finally, there was four-star New Jersey athlete Markquese Bell. With his skill set, Bell could play either defensive back or wide receiver in college, which is one of the many things that makes him such a highly sought after recruit.

Bell is very high on Michigan, Penn State, and Rutgers, and distance from home could be a factor in his recruitment. If so, that should benefit the Nittany Lions. Let’s be honest, do you really think Penn State would lose a recruiting target to Rutgers? Exactly.

Blue White Weekend
Penn State will host a plethora of recruits for the Blue White festivities this weekend, and this will include some of their top targets for both 2017 and 2018.

Penn State’s four class of 2017 commits (quarterback Sean Clifford, linebacker Dylan Rivers, defensive end Damion Barber, and defensive end Yetur Matos) will all be on campus this weekend, as will class of 2018 defensive end commit Micah Parsons.

It is always good to get players that are already committed around uncommitted players, especially someone like Clifford, who has been a very vocal and active recruiter ever since committing to the Nittany Lions last June.

As for uncommitted visitors this weekend, there will be a lot of familiar faces in Happy Valley. Class of 2017 offensive linemen CJ Thorpe and Michael Miranda, linebacker Avery Roberts, wide receiver Mark Webb, defensive tackle Fred Hansard, class of 2018 wide receiver Shaquon Anderson-Butts, and class of 2018 quarterback Phil Jurkovec will all be among those in attendance. These are some of Penn State’s top targets, so it is huge to get them on campus this weekend.

The one I am keeping an eye on is Jurkovec who is the top quarterback, and could end up the top overall player, in the country for 2018.

Linebacker Avery Roberts is set to choose between Nebraska and Penn State on April 21, so it can’t hurt that Penn State is getting his final visit before announcing this weekend. Especially since, in my opinion, Penn State is already the team to beat for Roberts. Honestly, it would not surprise me if Roberts committed this weekend even if he did not go public with it until April 21.

As for commit watch, there are a few guys who could commit this weekend without surprising me.

Offensive linemen CJ Thorpe and Michael Miranda are two guys I certainly could see committing this weekend. Thorpe has been close in the past, but said he wanted to make a few other visits. He has since visited Michigan, Alabama, and Auburn, and now is back at Penn State for the third time since January.

As for Miranda, he has said before he would like to make a college decision before the end of May. And while that is still a month and a half away, Penn State has seemed to be his leader for a few weeks now and this is his second trip to Happy Valley in a month. Those are two I will be watching closely.

Wide receiver Mark Webb is one other guy to watch. Similar to Thorpe, Penn State has long led for Webb but he wanted to visit some other schools. Webb recently finished a southern swing where he visited Georgia, North Carolina, and Maryland. While I’m not really expecting it, a Webb commitment this weekend would not surprise me either.

A New Name To Watch At Defensive Tackle
As most of you know defensive tackle is a big need for Penn State in this recruiting class, and a new name popped onto the radar at defensive tackle over the weekend. Three-star Tennessee native Rutger Reitmaier visited Penn State for the first time over the weekend and walked away with an offer.

The six-foot-three 265 pound Nashville native also holds offers from Duke, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt among others. Reitmaier was very impressed with his visit to Happy Valley, and discusses it with Sean Fitz of Lions247 here. Penn State seems to have thrown themselves firmly in the mix for the Volunteer State’s top ranked defensive tackle.

Bleich Makes The Call
Last Thursday, IMG Academy class of 2018 offensive lineman Chris Bleich became Penn State’s second class of 2018 commit. Bleich is a Plymouth (PA) native, and is slated to start at right tackle for IMG this fall.

Bleich is six-foot-six and checks in at 305 pounds. He has a good motor on the field, and, as you probably imagined, is a very strong kid. You can read more about his commitment here.

Next: How Penn State Targets Fared at Ohio Camp

That will do it for this week. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all and any breaking Penn State recruiting news. You never know what may happen during Blue White Weekend.