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Penn State Football Commit Breakdown: OL Juice Scruggs

By Marty Leap

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 02: Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts against the USC Trojans during the 2017 Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 2, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 02: Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin reacts against the USC Trojans during the 2017 Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 2, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Penn State’s highly touted 2018 recruiting class now has 21 verbal commitments

Penn State football is well on its way to signing their highest rated recruiting class since at least 2010. In fact, their 2018 recruiting class could be their highest rated class of this millennium. That class got even better on Friday.

Four-star offensive lineman Juice Scruggs committed to Penn State on Friday. Scruggs chose the Nittany Lions over offers from LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, among others. His final two schools were the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes.

Originally an Ohio native,  Scruggs now resides in Pennsylvania and attends Erie Cathedral Prep. Getting back into the powerful Erie Cathedral Prep can only bode well for the Nittany Lions in future recruiting endeavors.

Landing Juice Scruggs is a great recruiting victory for James Franklin and his staff. For almost his entire recruitment he appeared to be an Ohio State lean. However, in recent weeks this changed and Scruggs is now a Nittany Lion commit.

With the commitment of Juice Scruggs, Penn State now has four offensive linemen in its highly touted 2018 recruiting class. Scruggs, however, is the first interior offensive lineman in the class. He will be the lone interior lineman the Nittany Lions take in 2018.

He has a great first step and is very quick off the ball, which will translate well to being able to pull at either guard or center in college. Scruggs also has excellent footwork which is often times a rarity for high school offensive linemen. His strong footwork also helps make Scruggs a good pulling lineman.

He is also an aggressive player with a nasty streak. Scruggs finish blocks and drives defenders into the ground. Some offensive linemen lack this mean streak and it holds them back in their careers, Juice Scruggs is definitely not one of them.

One area where Juice Scruggs will need to improve in college is pass protection. He has the athleticism and skill set to be a very good pass blocker, he just needs to work at it more and refine his craft. This is not uncommon for offensive linemen coming out of college.

Next: 2017 Position Preview: Wide Receiver

With the commitment of Juice Scruggs, Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class now has 21 commits. This bumps the Nittany Lions back to third in the country in the composite rankings of 247 Sports, jumping the Texas Longhorns.

You can watch his film here. Welcome to Happy Valley, Juice!

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