Penn State Football Recruiting: Weekend visit recap, new offers

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

With the early signing period now less than a week away, it is a very busy time in the world of Penn State football recruiting. It is sure to be a whirlwind week on the recruiting trail, before things quiet down for a week or two prior to the stretch run to the traditional signing day on February 5.

The Nittany Lions are coming off their big official visit weekend, one of the Nittany Lions’ top commits earned a big honor, the coaching staff is continuing to hit the road to recruit before the end of the contact period on Sunday (Dec. 17), new offers have been going out, and the Nittany Lions’ picked up a big preferred walk-on commitment.

Recapping official visitor weekend

This past weekend Penn State hosted 14 of their 20 verbal commitments on official visits, as well as three of their top remaining targets. Class of 2018 commits Shaquon Anderson-Butts was also in town, per his Twitter page, on an unofficial visit.

The three uncommitted visitors in town were defensive linemen Micah Parsons and Tyreke Smith, as well as offensive tackle Rasheed Walker. The Nittany Lions entered the weekend in the top group – if not the leader – for all three players. Following this past weekend, the Nittany Lions have done nothing but help their cause in the pursuit of these three players.

Other than SAB, the five Penn State commits not in town were Isaiah Humphries, Jordan Miner, Juice Scruggs, PJ Mustipher, and Trent Gordon. Mustipher and Scruggs both had previous commitments and will official visit later in the winter, while the other three officially visited Penn State for the Michigan game.

Of the three uncommitted players in town the first to announce his commitment will be Parsons who is set to commit, and sign his letter of intent, on Wednesday (Dec. 20). Smith, whose recruitment is a dogfight between Penn State and Ohio State, will announce at the Under Armor All-American Game on January 4. Walker has no set commitment plans, but the Nittany Lions appear to be in great shape with the top-100 offensive tackle.

Penn State commit earns a big honor

Five-star running back commit Ricky Slade earned a big honor during the week. The Woodbridge, Virginia, native was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the Commonwealth of Virginia. You can read more about that here.

Slade winning this award came just a few days after he finally earned a fifth star. Ricky Slade not being a five-star recruit was an absolute crime. However, it has since been rectified.

Congrats to Ricky on the big week!

Coaches hit the road

James Franklin and his coaching staff have continued to hit the road this week to recruit with the end of the contact period quickly approaching. On Wednesday, Franklin made one of his most important in home visits when he checked in on four-star defensive end target Jayson Oweh.

The Nittany Lions continue to fight with Michigan and Ohio State to land a commitment from Oweh, who will announce at the Under Armor All-American Game on January 4. When the contact period ends on Sunday, coaches will not be able to contact Oweh again before he announces his commitment. This made Franklin’s in home visit on Wednesday vital. Ultimately, I expect Oweh to end up in Happy Valley.

Prior to visiting Oweh, the staff also visited class of 2021 athlete Derrick Davis this week. That will be covered more below. Furthermore, the coaching staff also visited Juice Scruggs for Cathedral Prep’s state championship victory last Thursday and Julian Fleming and Southern Columbia’s on Friday.

Franklin will use his in home visit with Micah Parsons later this week, and Tyreke Smith should get a visit as well.

On Wednesday night, offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne was in Arizona visiting four-star legacy wide receiver Solomon Enis. If the Nittany Lions end up with room for Enis in their class you can expect him to be a Nittany Lion.

A pair of new offers go out

James Franklin and his coaching staff extended a pair of notable offers this past week. The first was to class of 2021 athlete Derrick Davis.

Derrick Davis is the first class of 2021 recruit to be offered by the Nittany Lions. He attends Gateway High School in Monroeville and is shaping up to be one of the top recruits in the country for the 2021 cycle. He visited Penn State for the Michigan game during the regular season, and James Franklin extended the offer to Davis in person earlier this week.

It is great for the Nittany Lions to get in on the recruitment of Davis earlier as this is shaping up to be a big time national recruitment. Pitt and West Virginia have also offered Davis so far, but that offer list will balloon with time.

The other new notable offer went out to top-100 class of 2019 wide receiver David Bell.

Bell is an Indiana native and holds offers from Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, among others. The next step for the Nittany Lions is to try to get Bell on campus, potentially for a junior day this spring.

Nittany Lions add a specialist

On Wednesday, class of 2018 kicker, Rafael Checa announced that he will be a preferred walk-on (PWO) at Penn State. Checa is a Washington D.C. native where he attends St. John’s College High School.

The kicking depth chart will be wide open for the Nittany Lions in 2018 with Tyler Davis graduating. According to Kornblue.com, Checa is the third best high school kicker in the country. Checa and fellow class of 2018 commit Jake Pinegar will both have a great opportunity to win the placekicking job for the Nittany Lions in 2018.

Next: Can Trace McSorley be a Heisman contender in 2018?

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. Especially with the early signing period now less than a week away.