Black Shoe Diaries

Williams and Plonski are more important for now.

Terry is a solid dual-threat QB, but likely wouldn’t fit in BOB’s system,and is likely further down the want-list for the staff. However, adding Terry as an insurance QB wouldn’t be a terrible idea.

Can always grab him up and

Use them where their skills can fit. I mean how many times did Joe recruit someone in one posiiton and turn them into stars in other positions. I swear half the team started out as a QB in high school at some point. Not like BoB can’t do that also.

I'm hoping that strategy changes, though.

I’d rather BOB recruit a top level QB and top level DB’s rather than taking a few quarterbacks and forcing a square peg into a round hole. Sure, it worked sometimes, but when you start talking moving positions, it gets that much harder.

Depending of what High School they went to

Some of these kids played more than 1 position. so they might want to be a QB, but are a much better football player when they area a CB. So it’s not like a lot of these kids were playing LB exclusively in HS and then were asked to be a FB in college. There is room, IMHO, to get those multi function kids and put them where the teams needs dictate. Might need to run wildlion, or slot reciever, or a safety is someone gets hurt.

Certainly, and lots of the top-end recruits do play both sides

Since they’re generally the best, or one of the best, player on the team. But recruiting a lot of those “athlete” players is a dangerous game to play. Armani Reeves played on offense, but he was definitely the shutdown corner we needed in last year’s class.

As for filling in, that’s where depth chart strategy comes into play. The staff didn’t do the secondary any help the past few years, so the new staff will have to make sure they get the right numbers so our depth charts don’t get to bare bones.

Does the name.....

Jim Kelly ring a bell? PSU needs to keep its talent IN STATE. And it needs to be honest with these kids. It is a package deal if you want to attract the best and keep Urban (and everyone esle) out of PA and away from PSU recruits.

If you can’t be honest and up front with the kids you are recruiting it is not going to work.

You mean the all-Pro QB that Penn State recruited as a linebacker?

I’d prefer we recruit to each position, with maybe a couple of spots for the Percy Harvins and Derrick Williams of the world. You can’t put 11 Bill Beltons on the field, you need to target specific positional requirements.

Yes, that Jim Kelly

You guys have an awesome campus. One of the best I have ever seen, and I have been to Stanford, and UVA, and Chapel Hill (what’s the big deal), and Duke, and ND, and OSU and MANY more (almost as good as UD! :)). There is so much to like about PSU. And if this coaching staff is as good as I think it is, then over time the dominance that everyone predicted when PSU first joined the B1G is something I think will happen and surprise people.

Be careful on these posts and discussions guys. You think the recruits aren’t reading this stuff? Or that is doesn’t make an impression?

I am a Blue Hen. With a strong affinity to PSU for many reasons I have detailed previously stated. Don’t shoot yourselves in the foot (feet?) by trying to be too hip or too “smart” with what you are saying here.

IMHO the objective is to get the best players (that will ALSO go to class and graduate), and to kick the crap out of any and all that you guys play. Think about that as you comment and offer opinions.

I like what I see and hear from O’Brien. I’m looking forward to him kicking the crap out of Urban. Year after year after year.

I'm a post-doc at UD right now...

I like what I see and hear from O’Brien. I’m looking forward to him kicking the crap out of Urban. Year after year after year.

Can I buy you a beer at Iron Hill? :)

BNittsDeMilo - February 14, 2012 reply

Any time...

My son is a soph/junior at UD (he came in with 27 credits so I am not sure how to catagorize him); so I am up there frequently ; drop me a line at jswain23@comcast.net; and I will see if we can do it there or at Grotto

Well if these recruits are reading this...

Recruits: I would like to welcome all of you to State College for a nice weekend visit. We would love to have all of you play football for our team. We would also like to see you succeed both on and off the field. We cherish academics at PSU, but have some great perks. Have you ever heard of the Creamery? We make some of the best ice cream you will ever eat. We have cheerleaders as well!!! Also we think that you’re all very good looking, and dress sharply. Since your coming over the weekend of THON, we hope you can get into the BJC and experience what PSU represents in the community and the differences we try and make uponn our world on a daily basis. Did I mention your all good looking?, well you are.

In summation, please consider making Penn State your number one desination to play football as well as get a great education and become a part of our Happy Valley family.

Thank You.

I am 100% positive recruits read message boards.

However, that does not mean that people should temper opinions or analysis. There will be good and bad things said about almost every recruit of every major program somewhere online.

We won’t level any personal attacks at any of the recruits we cover here, but we’re similarly not going to sugarcoat everything. Additionally, if a recruit makes a decision based on what some faceless commenter on a message board said about him, no one would go anywhere.

Yeah, I'm old school

But all I want to convey is the need to be intelligent and measured in your comments. How capable of parsing literate reparte were you at the age of 18?

And for those of you that didn’t read it in the past, I dated a PSU cheerleader and am damn glad to have had that experience!!!

But they are STILL just 18. If it were you what would YOU respond positively to?

y would they care

if we think they are attractive, my guess is they care way more about the cheerleaders…some webbrowsing that with the safesearch off on the google search should prove my point…recruits reading this give it a shot

ktd5048 - February 14, 2012 reply

for those

who took the time to search some stuff out…..you’re welcome : )

ktd5048 - February 14, 2012 reply

B/C it was a joke

oh....

lulz

ktd5048 - February 14, 2012 reply

bluehenfan said

That recruits sometimes read comments on websites like this, which I find a bit ridiculous. So I figured I would “butter” them up, clearly my joke was not taken as such, I guess talking about the great things about PSU, and adding in a stupid line about how they are attractive, to get them to come to PSU shoud not be what is said. I will just stop then commenting about recruits, since Cleraly they make thier decisions about what some random person says on a random site for that school instead of the coaches and academics and atmophere and all those minor things.

So instead I will just add this photo and take my leave from all recruting stuff:

BUT WITHOUT STARS HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH ONES I WANT??!?!?!?!?

For now, you have to look at interest levels for other schools.

The stars will come later, and then we’ll tell you who is the better linebacker prospect.

Yeah, I was just messing around.

Although how reliable are offer lists at this point? Don’t a lot of the kids just list offers that they may not have, and other schools not send them out as quickly? For example, do a single one of the top MD talents this year have an offer from us yet? Fuller, O’Daniel, Poggi etc.

Was actually discussing this with Jared earlier.

At this point, all I can do is take what the recruit tells me at his word. Some claim offers that don’t exist, some inflate their offer list, and some are very honest. It’s up to us to figure out who is telling the truth and what their interest level is. Plus, they have a whole spring and summer of workouts, combines, etc. to get those rankings.

Yeah, I mean, you have to use the information you have.

It’s not like you can start guessing who is not giving you an accurate list, and which schools have and haven’t officially offered etc. I guess it’s just best to keep all that in mind.

Have you gotten the impression that this staff will not give out as many verbal offers as quickly? Seems like the top talents in LJ territory are not sporting a PSU offer.

Also, what are they putting in the New Jersey water lately? It seems like this will be a loaded year for NJ.

Not sure on the offers.

But totally agree about New Jersey. Don Bosco in particular is absolutely loaded. Unfortunate we haven’t had a stronger presence in NJ. That appears to be changing with the new staff.

Would really be nice.

Seems like UF has a lock there. Speaking of pipelines, what’s the Calvert Hall talent like this year? Also, Youngstown has some talent this year I think, will we be in the running there at all?

Mostly meaning the dude from Mooney.

Calvert has a safety we're high on, Delando Johnson.

In Ohio, there is a running back from Howland (Anthony Stanko’s school) named DeVeon Smith. He has offers from OSU and UM, and will be at PSU this weekend.

and my school too!

I hadn’t been to a game in years but went back to check out Smith this past season. I honestly believe he will be a Heisman contender if he stays healthy and motivated. Maurice Clarett was also from Warren, and I though Smith blew him out of the water. I saw Smith run for 300 yards against one of the top teams in Ohio. All he did was run straight up the middle too. No tosses or counters or anything. He would have rushed for 500 yards that game if he didn’t play for the most conservative coach imaginable.

Jared Slanina - February 14, 2012 reply

Howland's QB will be there too

I was a little surprised, but not sure what his skill set is since he throws about 5 passes a game.

Jared Slanina - February 14, 2012 reply

Welcome to the team, Jared.

New Strength

I hadn’t seen the video before. Coach Fitzgerald scares me. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about our team getting pushed around any more.

psfann - February 14, 2012 reply

I assume there are no restrictions

on a S&T coach calling / texting / emailing with a recruit, other than the normal quiet periods that all coaches must observe?

CvilleLion - February 14, 2012 reply

I'm not sure.

I know there are limits on the number of actual coaching staff members (HC + 9), and a limit on the number of coaches that can be on the road recruiting at any one time. But I don’t think there are any restrictions on additional staff members talking with recruits. I know the recruits will be given tours of the weight rooms (which are undergoing major renovations to comply with Fitzgerald’s vision of the program), so I’m sure they’ll also speak in-depth with Fitz.

ICEICETHATGUY13 - February 14, 2012 reply

(undergoing major renovations)

UPS guy: Only one stop today for a bunch of packages? This should be an easy one….where we going?…/makespunchtogutsound

PSU Mudder - February 15, 2012 reply

So, what, we're looking to take four LB's and he could be one of them?

I put the LBs at 2-3, but it could just as easily be 4.

Like Jared said, we’ve taken two linebackers in the last two years. That’s future depth chart russian roulette talk.