Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup May 24, 2016

It is time once again for our weekly look at Penn State Football Recruiting here at Victory Bell Rings.

This past weekend was a very busy one in Happy Valley for Penn State football recruiting. The Nittany Lions hosted over 20 prospects between the classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019. Also, Penn State commits Sean Clifford, Michael Miranda, and Micah Parsons were on campus.

Over the weekend, James Franklin and his staff accomplished a lot in recruiting. The Nittany Lions made some big moves with some recruits, extended new offers to others, and got an assist from current commits.

All of that said, let’s dive into this week’s recruiting roundup.

Lamont Wade Releases His Top Ten

We will start with the top target on Penn State’s 2017 recruiting board, Clairton (PA) cornerback Lamont Wade. On Friday night the four-star cornerback released a top ten that consisted of Alabama, Duke, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Penn State, Pitt, Tennessee, UCLA, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.

It was no surprise that the Nittany Lions made Wade’s top ten. He has visited Penn State four times this spring and the Nittany Lions have become the team to beat for Wade. The source I have been in contact with continues to tell me that Wade is “Penn State’s to lose.”

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Unfortunately, Wade was unable to visit Penn State this past weekend as he had originally planned. However, he already has his visits for June and July scheduled. I still fully expect Wade to be committed to Penn State by the start of the season.

Lamont Wade is one of the top 100 recruits in the country, and his recruitment will be a battle until the very end. However, he plans to enroll early so this battle will end in December instead of February. As long as the Nittany Lions have an improved product on the field this fall, which I 100 percent expect them to, I will be shocked if Lamont Wade does not sign with Penn State in early December.

Weekend Visitors 

As I said above, this past weekend was a big one for Penn State in terms of visitors on campus. In total, the Nittany Lions hosted over 20 recruits between the classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019. And they were able to big some big moves with some of these recruits.

The list of players that joined commits Sean Clifford, Michael Miranda, and Micah Parsons on campus were highlighted by some of the following players. Class of 2017 tight end Matt Dotson (more on him later), class of 2017 linebacker Brailyn Franklin, class of 2017 wide receivers Danny Davis and  Sean Savoy, class of 2018 offensive lineman Fredrick Scruggs, class of 2018 tight end Jeremy Ruckert, class of 2018 defensive lineman (and Michigan commit) Leonard Taylor, and class of 2019 wide receiver Dean Engram.

These were just some of the recruits that were on campus this past weekend. The Nittany Lions made a big move with Dotson which, again, we’ll get more into that shortly, Danny Davis, and extended new offers to some of these prospects.

Also, it is always nice to get a player that is committed to another school, especially a division rival like Michigan, on campus for a visit. If a player had no interest in a school, they would not be visiting.

The Nittany Lions also appeared to have made a big move with linebacker Brailyn Franklin.

Even though Franklin is listed as an athlete by 247 Sports, the Nittany Lions are recruiting him as a linebacker. Linebacker remains a big need in this class, and the Nittany Lions made some good headway with Franklin over the weekend. Franklin recently moved from Texas to Virginia, and I would look for him to pop up on campus again this summer.

Penn State Makes A Move With Matt Dotson

Arguably the biggest news to come out of the weekend is the move Penn State made with four-star tight end Matt Dotson. Saturday was Dotson’s first visit to Penn State, yet the Nittany Lions were still in his top three along with Michigan and Michigan State entering the visit. In order to become a serious contender for Dotson the coaching staff was going to have to blow him away, and that is exactly what happened.

Dotson left the visit raving about Penn State and the coaching staff. Also, Dotson is extremely close with Penn State quarterback commit Sean Clifford and having Clifford in his ear all day on Saturday certainly helped as well. I have always said you can never count out James Franklin and his staff when they get a player on campus, and they showed that again on Saturday with Dotson.

Following the visit, Dotson’s crystal ball prediction’s on 247 Sports started to trend, and in a big way, in favor of the Nittany Lions. In fact, the Nittany Lions now lead his crystal ball prediction with over 50 percent.

There are some rumblings that Dotson could return to Happy Valley for another visit this weekend, if that were to happen I would fully expect him to commit while on his visit.

Dotson had always said he intended to announce his college decision shortly after finishing visits to Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State this spring. That has now happened, and the Nittany Lions are trending upward in a big way. I expect Matt Dotson to commit to Penn State and soon. James Franklin and his staff deserve a ton of credit for pulling off what appears to be a massive recruiting upset with Dotson.

New Offers

Over the weekend, the Nittany Lion coaching staff extended multiple new offers to recruits as well. Sean Savoy, Fredrick Scruggs, Jeremy Ruckert, and Dean Engram were all offered while on campus for their visits. For those wondering, yes Dean is the son of former Penn State All-American wide receiver Bobby Engram.

Obviously, there is a long, long way to go in Engram’s recruitment with him only being a high school freshman, but the Nittany Lions getting in on him early is very beneficial.

Sean Savoy is another player I am keeping an eye on. In my opinion, the Nittany Lions could have shot to the top of his list with the offer. He would fit the mold of the slot wide receiver the staff wants in this recruiting class.

Earlier in the week, Penn State offered class of 2018 defensive lineman Dorian Hardy.

Hardy is a Montvale (NJ) native, and a teammate of class of 2017 offensive line commit Robert Martin. After receiving his offer, as you can see above, Hardy visited campus on Friday along with Martin. Also, Hardy has already planned a return trip in July. Presumably it’s for the Lasch Bash recruiting weekend on July 16. With the offer and visit, the Nittany Lions appear to have put themselves firmly in the mix for Hardy. Alabama, Michigan, and North Carolina are among the other schools to watch here.

Next: Penn State Football: Under-the-Radar Defensive Player for 2016

That will do it for this week’s recruiting roundup. It has been a very busy, and successful, past few days for Penn State Football Recruiting. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all of the Penn State Football Recruiting news out there. Especially with Matt Dotson being firmly on commit watch this week/weekend.