Penn State football: “Family atmosphere” sold Bryce Mostella on Lions
Michigan-based prospect Bryce Mostella recently committed to Penn State football, thanks to their “family atmosphere.”
Deciding on your future is hard when you’re a High School kid ready to take your football career to the next level. It never seems like an easy choice — especially for a prospect with double-digit offers on the table. Earlier this month, three-star Michigan-based defensive end Bryce Mostella was ready to commit to one of the 22 schools that made him a scholarship offer. One of those schools happened to be his eventual 2020 landing spot, Penn State football.
Along with the Penn State football program, Mostella had interest from other significant Big Ten schools such as Iowa, Ohio State, and his local University, Michigan. While Mostella mostly steered clear from taking on official visits to a lot of the schools that had interest in him, he made sure to pay extra attention to what’s going on in Happy Valley.
Times were tough for the Nittany Lions back in June. With multiple de-commitments rolling out in the span of two weeks, James Franklin and company were beginning to get a sour reputation within the Big Ten. They kept their faith, though and didn’t bat an eye. Fortunately, their confidence in themselves, and the Penn State program itself eventually began to pay off.
Multiple significant prospects helped Penn State climb back up in the ranks for their 2020 recruiting class towards the end of June and in early July. Bryce Mostella happened to be one of them. He took on an official visit right around the time PSU began losing verbal commitments. Then, two weeks later, he went for another visit to Iowa.
At that point, the possibility of losing Mostella’s potential commitment became real. However, the lasting impression Penn State left on Mostella during his few visits over time clearly meant a lot. And a few weeks after his visit with the Hawkeyes, Mostella went to Twitter to announce his commitment to Penn State’s 2020 recruiting class.
What sold Mostella on Happy Valley?
"“One of the big reasons I decided on Penn State was the way I felt about the coaches,” Mostella said. “I felt like they were people I could trust implicitly, like just regardless of anything, and I felt like there was a really genuine family atmosphere and not just between the players, but between the coaches and each other. And, of course the history and tradition speak for itself, so I just felt like it was the best fit for me.”"
Some prospects make their decision based strictly on scheme fit, and the probability of getting tons of playing time as early as possible. Others might select a team based off of the campus and academics. Bryce Mostella made his decision solely because of the culture within Penn State’s football program, according to The Detroit News’ David Goricki.
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A “genuine family atmosphere” was everything that Mostella was looking for, and he found it within Happy Valley. He went into further detail regarding his opinion on the program by explaining how James Franklin “understands us kids.” The fact that Mostella can trust Franklin and his staff gave the Nittany Lions the upper-hand in the race for his commitment.