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Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup: August 23, 2016

By Marty Leap

Nov 29, 2014; University Park, PA, USA; A general view of Beaver Stadium prior to the game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
Nov 29, 2014; University Park, PA, USA; A general view of Beaver Stadium prior to the game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O /
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The 2016 college football season is just a little over a week away. As the season readies to begin, this is the perfect time for a Penn State Football recruiting roundup.

Welcome back to Victory Bell Rings’ patented Penn State Football recruiting roundup. It has been a few weeks since I have done a roundup. However, our recruiting coverage has not slowed down at all.

I have just been bringing recruiting updates in quick-hitter articles. However, now that the football season is right around the corner the weekly Penn State Football recruiting roundups will be returning.

So, let’s get started with this week’s roundup. Shall we?

Current 2017 Class

Penn State’s 2017 recruiting class is shaping up to be James Franklin’s fourth top 25 recruiting class in as many years at Penn State. The Nittany Lions currently hold 15 commitments. With those commitments, the Nittany Lions check in 20th nationally and third in the Big Ten according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings.

The Nittany Lions’ class is currently anchored by four-star quarterback Sean Clifford. Clifford is both the highest rated player in the class, as well as the vocal leader. Four-star linebacker Dylan Rivers, three-star defensive lineman Damion Barber, and three-star defensive back D.J. Brown have all been great recruiters as well.

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The Penn State coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for how strong this class currently is. The Nittany Lions are coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons and have to deal with more negative recruiting than any other program in the country. Despite all of this, a top 25 class still seems to be in the cards for  James Franklin and his staff.

However, with a good showing on the field this fall this class could evolve into a top 15 class. The Nittany Lions are in the thick of things for some very highly rated prospects still. However, many of them are waiting to see if the product on the field improves this fall or not. Personally, I believe it will.

Penn State Makes The Cut

On Saturday, five-star class of 2018 running back Ricky Slade released his top schools. To no surprise the Nittany Lions were one of these five schools. The other four schools in Slade’s top five are Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech.

As I said above, Penn State making Slade’s top five is no surprise. This is because Slade has visited the Nittany Lions multiple times in the past year. His most recent visit was for the Blue White Game back in April.

Currently, Penn State and Virginia Tech appear to have separated themselves from the other three schools in Slade’s top five. Therefore, Penn State just needs to keep getting Slade on campus. He already plans to attend Penn State’s game against Ohio State in October. I would not be surprised to see Slade pop up for another game.

Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class is off to a phenomenal start. The Nittany Lions’ 2018 recruiting class currently checks in as the fourth best in the country, and the best in the Big Ten. Adding the best running back in the country in the 2018 class would just make it even better.

Visitor This Past Weekend 

This past Saturday, four-star offensive lineman Blaine Scott visited Penn State. Scott is a six-foot-five, 300-pound junior-to-be from Sciotoville, Ohio. It was Scott’s first visit to Penn State and it went very well.

After his trip Scott told Steve Wiltfong of 247 Sports that his visit was ‘unreal.’ Since Scott is a class of 2018 recruit it is still very early in his recruitment. However, the Nittany Lions appear to be in a good spot early on.

If Ohio State offers Scott, then he would, most likely, commit immediately to his home state Buckeyes. However, an Ohio State offer is far from a given for him. That is not a knock on Scott, either. It is because the Buckeyes are just recruiting at a ridiculously high level right now.

That will do it for this week. Due to the start of the season being close, there will be a lot of Penn State Football recruiting news in the upcoming weeks, as several visitors will be on hand for each home game.

As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all of the latest news in the world of Penn State Football recruiting. Especially since there should be a lot of news with the season being right around the corner. Football season is almost here. In just under two weeks Nittany Lion fans will be watching football yet again.

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