Penn State football recruiting roundup: December 1, 2017

Welcome back to the weekly look at all things Penn State football recruiting here at Victory Bell Rings – the recruiting roundup.

The regular season may be over for the Penn State football team, but that does not mean it is not a busy time inside the Lasch Building. The world of Penn State football recruiting is about to become an extremely busy one. Especially with this year being the first year of the early signing period (December 20 – 22).

When it comes to Penn State football recruiting the biggest news of the past week was the changes to the Nittany Lion coaching staff and what impact, if any, they will have on recruiting. Additionally, the Nittany Lion coaches have been hitting the road during the contact period to visit players and the Nittany Lions made the top group of a five-star recruit.

There is a lot to unpack, so let’s begin this week’s Penn State football recruiting roundup.

Will coaching changes impact recruiting?

Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is now the head coach at Mississippi State. Running backs/special teams coach Charles Huff will be joining him to be Moorhead’s offensive coordinator. So, what impact will this have on recruiting?

To be blunt, it most likely will not have any at all. Penn State’s defensive recruits are not losing any of their coaches so there is nothing to worry about there. This leaves offensive commits and kicker Jake Pinegar.

In a credit to James Franklin, he makes sure that players are comfortable with multiple coaches on the staff and he sells the school to them. This helps in situations like this where recruits lose their potential coordinator or position coach.

Barring something changing, there is no reason to worry about any of Penn State’s offensive commits rethinking things due to the departure of Moorhead and Huff. The player that fans were worried about most is running back Ricky Slade. In the eyes of many, myself included, Slade is the best running back in the 2018 recruiting cycle. With the loss of his offensive coordinator and position coach many fans worried about Slade’s commitment, however, he quickly shut this down both in interviews and on social media.

Coaches hit the road

College football recruiting is officially in the contact period. This contact period will continue until December 17. During this time, coaches are able to visit with players at their schools and in their homes.

This past week James Franklin and his staff have been out on the road visit class of 2018 commits, all of whom are expected to sign during the early signing period. They also paid visits to class of 2018 defensive end targets Jayson Oweh and Tyreke Smith. As of this writing, I expect the Nittany Lions to sign both Oweh and Smith.

Coach Franklin and company will continue to hit the road to visit players this week and next.

A new JUCO offer goes out

On Thursday, the Nittany Lions extended a new 2019 offer. This offer went to Lackawanna Junior College safety Jaquan Brisker.

Brisker is shaping up to be one of the top JUCO recruits in the country for the 2019 recruiting cycle. Wherever he goes, he will have the ability to be a starting safety and make an immediate impact. So it is good to see the Nittany Lions get involved early with Brisker.

It should be noted that Brisker is a native of Monroeville and a graduate of Gateway High School. In his younger days, Brisker was a waterboy for cornerbacks coach Terry Smith when Smith was the head coach at Gateway High School.

Antonio Alfano’s top 12

Earlier this week five-star class of 2019 defensive lineman Antonio Alfano released his top 12 on Twitter. Unsurprisingly, the Nittany Lions made his list. Alfano also hinted at committing soon.

Antonio Alfano has visited Penn State more than he has any other school. The Nittany Lions appear to be the clear cut leaders for Alfano right now. Barring a change, whenever Alfano’s decision comes, I expect him to pick the Nittany Lions.

Next: How PSU commits performed this past weekend

That will do it for this week. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all of the latest news in the world of Penn State football recruiting.