Big Ten Bloggers Roundtable: Recruitin’ Edition

September 3, 2010 – | View Comments

With less than two weeks until Penn State takes on Youngstown State, the mixing and matching of the spring and summer is starting to die down. The starting lineup and rotation is mostly set, and we’re taking a look as just how each position stacks …

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Big Ten Bloggers Roundtable: Recruitin’ Edition

Submitted by Devon on February 9, 2009 – View Comments

Well, even though it’s not football season, our new Penn Staters are in the spotlight. Signing Day was last week, and Zombie Nation has provided the questions upon which we will base our analysis of the newest Nittany Lions. Let’s jump right in to the answering.

1. Were you pleased with this year’s recruiting class? Where did your team excel? Where did they fall short?

I wasn’t thrilled with Penn State’s recruiting class, but I do think we did a good job of filling some necessary holes. I think that even though we failed to land the big-name five star recruits, Joe Paterno and crew (or should I say Larry Johnson and crew?) addressed necessary positions and signed players who will be able to contribute, if not now then in the future. For example, even though this class lacked an elite wide receiver recruit, in players like Justin Brown, Shawney Kersey, and Christian Kuntz we have some players who should make up the backbone of PSU’s wideout corps for years to come. However, the lack of a mega-recruit is a somewhat annoying trend that this year continued. This year, it was Jelani Jenkins who spurred our offer for Florida; last year it was Terrelle Pryor. I’m very happy with the on-field success that we’ve had of late, but you wonder just how much better we’d be if we could bring in a recruiting class even half as nationally renown as, say, Notre Dame does. That said, the #10 recruiting class, per Scout, is something I’ll take any day of the week.

2. Name one or two players you want to see get on the field ASAP, and where you think they will fit in.

After graduating its entire starting defensive backfield, Penn State is going to need to rely on younger players in the secondary. The guy I’m really anxious to see on the field is Gerald Hodges. Hodges is big, physical, and fast and will definitely get a chance to prove his worth on the field from day one. I’d love to see him starting opposite Drew Astorino at safety, especially considering their stylistic differences. Astorino is smallish and quick while Hodges should be a big hitter. The other player I’m a little anxious about is Anthony Fera, the kicker. I know how great Kevin Kelly was at the end of his career, but he struggled in his first few seasons with the Nittany Lions. If Fera can step in and do an admirable job, the transition will be much easened.

3. This one’s purely for the sake of argument. Much has been made about the SEC’s recruiting ‘dominance’ over the BigTen, particularly this year. Either validate that claim, or try to prove it wrong. At least vent a little bit. You know you want to.

The public misconception seems to be that the SEC, and Big XII, to an extent, succeed through their compilation of “southern speed.” Big Ten teams are full of the big strong barrel-chested kids from the midwest who simply can’t keep up. Now, that’s obviously a gross oversimplification, especially considering that a team like Purdue grabbed something like a dozen recruits from the state of Florida, but schools will usually recruit best in state, or around that. The vast majority of, for example, Penn State’s top recruits come yearly from Pennsylvania and Maryland. Now, a school like USC also recruits phenomenally, but let’s not discount the classes that Ohio State usually brings in, ranked among the top teams anually. I think when a conference is struggling like the Big Ten has in the past few years, you’ll bash everything about them. I think that the media dictates this perception, but the Big Ten does need to show up, with, at the very least, a BCS bowl win next year.

4. Going into next year (already), where does your team need to focus its efforts? How about the Big Ten as a whole? What can the conference/your team do better to attract more highly-regarded recruits, or is it even an issue?

Looking ahead to way-too-early recruiting for 2010, I think Penn State needs a class that takes a preference for quality over quantity. This year, we had 27 commits. Next year, that might be 16. We can’t afford to give offers to guys like Mike Wallace, and I don’t want to crucify a guy who hasn’t played yet, but you know what I mean. This should be a class with as many 4 and 5-star guys as possible. The Big Ten would be well advised to focus on speed as a whole. The spread offense seems to have finally hit the midwest, with at least Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern running some variation on it. Speed on offense needs to be countered with speed on defense. I think Joe Paterno stepping down isn’t as big an issue as others seem to, but maybe if (when) Tom Bradley takes over, he’ll have a more hands-on approach.