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Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup: June 17, 2016

By Marty Leap

Oct 31, 2015; University Park, PA, USA; General view of the Penn State Nittany Lions logo inside Beaver Stadium prior to the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State won 39-0. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2015; University Park, PA, USA; General view of the Penn State Nittany Lions logo inside Beaver Stadium prior to the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State won 39-0. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /
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As the always busy summer evaluation and visiting period carries on for the Penn State football program, here is the latest recruiting news in this week’s recruiting roundup.

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Penn State football recruiting roundup here at Victory Bell Rings. As always this time of year, it has been a very busy week on the recruiting front. And, they have a big weekend ahead of them.

In the past week the Nittany Lions have extended new offers, made the top group of multiple recruits, and could be taking a step toward securing a commitment from one of their major targets. Also, last weekend was the Rivals’ Five-Star Challenge that featured Penn State commits, targets, and leans.

With all of that said, away we go with this week’s recruiting roundup.

Four-Star Tight End To Visit This Weekend

Cincinnati (OH) four-star tight end Matt Dotson will be visiting Penn State this weekend. This will be Dotson’s second visit to Penn State in the last month, as he also visited Happy Valley the weekend of May 18. This visit comes on the heels of a visit last weekend to Michigan State.

The battle for Dotson’s commit is a two-horse race between the Nittany Lions and the Spartans. However, the Nittany Lions seem to be the team to beat now. A major factor in this is that Dotson’s best friend is Penn State quarterback commit Sean Clifford. For what it’s worth, Clifford will also be on campus this weekend.

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Dotson has planned for a few weeks to announce his commitment at Nike’s The Opening competition the weekend of July 8-10. However, it would not shock me to see Dotson commit to Penn State this weekend — even if he just commits to the coaching staff and keeps it silent until going public at The Opening.

Rivals’ Five-Star Challenge

Last weekend in Atlanta (GA) Rivals held their five-star challenge. At the Rivals’ Five-Star Challenge, Penn State quarterback commit Sean Clifford had a strong showing. As always, Clifford showed a very accurate arm and did a great job of throwing the ball while on the move. Also, Clifford quarterbacked his 7v7 team to the challenge’s 7v7 tournament championship.

What made Clifford doing this so impressive is that they do not play 7v7 tournaments in the state of Ohio. Therefore, this was Clifford’s first time performing in a 7v7 setting. While this may not sound like much, 7v7 is a much different setting from an actual game so it was impressive Clifford was able to catch on so quickly.

Clifford was not the only familiar name to Penn State fans on his 7v7 team. Some top targets such as tight end Matt Dotson, wide receiver Mark Webb, running back D’Andre Swift, and defensive back Lamont Wade were also on Clifford’s team. It never hurts to have Clifford, who has already proven to be a great recruiter for the Nittany Lions, spending time around some of the Nittany Lions’ top targets in a setting like this, especially when Dotson and Wade already seem to be heavy, heavy Penn State leans.

There was also this Tweet about said 7v7 team earlier in the week by Lamont Wade.

It has been made very clear on this site that Penn State is currently in the driver’s seat for Lamont Wade and that the Nittany Lions have definitely become the team to beat for the five-star Clairton star. Hopefully, this Tweet is just the start of Wade working with Clifford to recruit more top talent to Happy Valley.

New Offers

Over the course of the past week, the Penn State coaches offered a trio of new scholarship offers to recruits. Right now, the offer that intrigues me most is three-star linebacker Brailyn Franklin. Franklin visited Happy Valley twice during the spring, and got a visit from Brent Pry and Sean Spencer at his school since then. 

With this offer, I fully expect the Nittany Lions to vault into Franklin’s top group. Honestly, I would not be surprised if Penn State became his new leader. Franklin recently transferred to Battlefield High School in Haymarket (VA) from Texas. He is extremely athletic, and has room to grow into his six-foot-two frame more.

I look for the Nittany Lions to attempt to get Franklin back on campus again this summer, most likely for the Lasch Bash recruiting BBQ in July. I would not be surprised at all to see Franklin end up being a member of Penn State’s 2017 recruiting class.

Another prospect offered by the Penn State Football coaches in the past week was class of 2018 Cleveland (OH) defensive end Tyreke Smith.

The Nittany Lions became Smith’s 11th FBS offer when the coaching staff extended the offer on Tuesday. This came one day after Smith camped for the Penn State coaches. Already listed at six-foot-four, 241 pounds, Smith is a very intriguing prospect who should have a lot of room to grow. It is always good to get in on prospects like this early.

Finally, the Nittany Lions also offered class of 2019 offensive lineman Devontae Dobbs on Wednesday. Penn State became the seventh FBS offer for Dobbs, and joined Florida, Kentucky, and Iowa State as power-five conference schools to offer. As I said above with Smith, it is always good to get in the mix early with recruits like this.

Weekend Visitors 

As was mentioned above, both Sean Clifford and Matt Dotson will be visiting Penn State this weekend. However, they will not be alone. Joining these two will be class of 2017 commits Damion Barber, Michael Miranda, and Yetur Matos. Class of 2018 offensive line commit Chris Bleich will also be on campus.

The Nittany Lions will also be hosting their first of multiple summer camps this weekend. As a result, there will be many un-committed prospects on campus. The two biggest are Lamont Wade and top 2018 target, wide receiver Shaquon Anderson-Butts.

Wade will be in Happy Valley to compete in this weekend’s 7v7 tournament, as well as to visit campus yet again. While I do not expect Wade to commit this weekend, the Nittany Lions certainly have a chance to continue to cement themselves as the team to beat for him this weekend. This is definitely a situation worth keeping an eye on.

As for Anderson-Butts, the four-star is a Penn State lean who I would not be surprised to see commit this weekend. Anderson-Butts has come close to committing during past visits and he is very much so Penn State’s to lose. As I said above, I will not be surprised in even the least bit to see Anderson-Butts pull the trigger this weekend.

Penn State Makes The Cut

In the past week the Nittany Lions made the top group of a trio of recruits. The first we will look at is four-star athlete CJ Holmes. Despite being listed as an athlete, the Nittany Lions are recruiting Holmes as a wide receiver.

Holmes listed a top seven of Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, Syracuse, Tennessee, and UCLA. He appears to have a top three of Alabama, Notre Dame, and Penn State right now, with this weekend being a potential big one for Holmes when he visits Notre Dame. If he leaves without committing to the Fighting Irish, then I really like the chances of the Nittany Lions.

Penn State also made the top ten of four-star wide receiver Tahj Capehart, as well as making the top 11 of three-star defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe. While the Nittany Lions probably sit third right now for Capehart, it is a distant third behind Maryland and Virginia Tech. It is going to take a major shift in his recruitment for the Nittany Lions to land him.

Conliffe, however, is a different story. The battle for his commitment appears to be a two-horse race between Oklahoma and Penn State. In fact, Conliffe nearly committed to the Nittany Lions during his visit for Junior Day back in February.

I would expect Conliffe to visit campus again this summer, and for the Nittany Lions to possibly find themselves as the front runners as a result. Honestly, if Penn State was already his leader it would not surprise me at all. Defensive tackle is a big need for Penn State in this cycle, and landing a commitment from Conliffe down the road would help greatly with that need.

Next: Most Undervalued Member Of Penn State's 2016 Recruiting Class

That will do it for this week. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all the latest Penn State Football recruiting news. Especially this weekend as the Nittany Lions very well could be receiving some good news.

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