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Central Oklahoma shocks #2 Icers in overtime ACHA stunner
March 9, 2010 – | Comments

Oh the disappointment. This was supposed to be the year. An ACHA national title in the program’s 70th anniversary season, the ultimate crowning achievement for the Penn State Icers.
But the looks of shock and disbelief on the players faces following the game said it all. …

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The Strange Saga of Adrian Coxson is, apparently, over

Submitted by Devon on January 11, 2010 – Comments

Adrian Coxson was one of the first members of Penn State’s recruiting class of 2010 to commit to the Lions.  It was almost 9 months ago when the Maryland native, rated as a five star prospect and as the #8 wide receiver in the country by Scout.com–despite the fact that he played QB this season after starting his high school career as a receiver–announced his intentions to play for Joe Paterno, and it was yet another example of Larry Johnson snagging the best talent from that state.  However, over the past few months, rumors have swirled around Coxson’s future; namely, that it would not be at Penn State.

The lack of interest didn’t seem to be coming from Coxson, who, throughout the recruiting process, continued to assert his commitment to Penn State. However, and information is admittedly second-and-third hand here, it was members of the recruiting staff, especially Mike McQueary, who were not enamored with Coxson.  While I’m not a connected source to either side of the story, Coxson’s grades seem to have never been an issue, and though a high schooler’s character is notoriously difficult to ascertain from a handful of articles, it doesn’t seem as though there are any glaring issues.

I will repeat once again that I’m not sure what exactly happened, or why, the premium services of both Scout and Rivals today reported that Adrian Coxson was told by Penn State staff that there is no longer room in this recruiting class for him.  The best (free) information source dates back a couple months, though it comes from FightOnState’s Cory James, and is emblematic of the curious nature of this recruitment:

1.  Coxson has not mentioned one word to his friends that are committed to Penn State about going elsewhere. (Not surprising, how do you tell your friends that you aren’t coming to PSU with them anymore because of these circumstances?)  2. Penn State has told Coxson that there is no room for him and they are still hoping he goes elsewhere.  My take on that is that Penn State will not pull his scholarship offer, but the chances of them holding onto a 5 star WR who they told they don’t have a need for is pretty slim.  Hence the “looking for a school” information that has been floating around.  Right or wrong, that is what is happening right now and it has been that way since August…..I can’t imagine things change by February.

I have no idea why the staff would suddenly cool on such a can’t miss prospect as Coxson, even with plenty of depth at the wide receiver position, and I somehow doubt I ever will. If and when the full story comes out, we’ll be on it like white on rice, but until then, I’m passing along what I know, and what you should.  Is there something that the staff knows about Coxson that we don’t? Quite possibly.  I have trouble believing that it’s a simple as “not enough room.”  Maybe they don’t think he’s that good, and not deserving of a scholarship.  But everyone who’s seen him play has been impressed by Coxson, and it’s generally not the Penn State way to retract an offer based on something like that.

After Dominique Easley left for Florida, Sharrif Floyd went elsewhere (also Florida) and with the destinations of Marcus Lattimore and Mike Thornton very much up in the air, I can’t imagine that we suddenly didn’t have room for a player of Coxson’s caliber, even if wide receivers Alex Kenney and Levi Norwood are also committed to Penn State.  I just really hope Coxson doesn’t go to Florida, even if this one wouldn’t qualify as poaching a commit.  They’re just starting to annoy me.

Update: I just got off the phone with a source highly connected to Penn State athletics, and he told me that he had spoken with an individual on the Penn State football staff–who is involved with scouting high school talent–in the past month regarding some of our prospects for this recruiting class.  On Coxson, my source tells me that the staff member said, and I quote “He’s just not good enough,” and that this staff member hopes another school will offer him a scholarship.  Though Coxson committed last spring, by last summer, the staff advised him to start looking elsewhere, and not-so-secretly hoped he’d decommit without them having to give him the boot.  Apparently, the Penn State coaching staff sees something different in Coxson than do other staffs and the recruiting services. This was not about grades or character or anything of that nature, but simply about his skill and projected performance at the next level.

My source also told me that Penn State feels that they are right in the thick of things for both Marcus Lattimore and Mike Thornton–the staff had actually hoped that Thornton would’ve committed already based on some comments he had made during his official visit, but the staff feels they have as good a chance as any other school for Thornton.  As for Lattimore, I’m told that Marcus is a Penn State kind of kid, and personally loves Penn State, and while all the other schools have their benefits as well, that Joe Paterno’s home visit later this month may well seal things.

As for Floyd, my source tells me what we’ve all suspected for a long time–that Sharrif Floyd was “all about Sharrif Floyd.”  He was looking to go to a school that would him get to the NFL, education be damned, and that there were plenty of outside influences that pushed him to Florida as opposed to Ohio State.  According to my source, the coaching staff wasn’t losing any sleep about Floyd, because they felt the bad might outweigh the positives.

I was told that Dominique Easley was something of a free spirit, and when he came to Penn State on his visit, he figured out that he wouldn’t have the run of the place, that the tight ship that Joe Paterno runs would’ve held him back from living it up.  According to my source, Oregon would’ve been a good place for Easley to go, and Dominique was ready to go to Oregon, but when Florida entered the mix late and he’d always had his heart set on Florida, it was an easy decision.

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  • Joe
    Education makes great sense since UF ranked higher than PSU!
  • psudevon
    You and I both know that's not true when it comes to the student-athletes.
  • Wow. What did I miss here?
  • bindi
    dcpowerpitter.
  • DCPowerGator
    why rip sharrif floyd, UPS wasn't even among his finalists, not to mention his michael oher type background. i guess everybody who doesn't choose penn state either sucks (coxson), is selfish (floyd), or a head case (easley)? wow, keep it classy, penn state.
  • Look, even Devon has said numerous times that alot of this is from second and third hand accounts. Will there be bitterness with the defections? Sure. To even assume there isn't just means you are naive. But he is just possibly shedding some light on some truths and non-truths behind the defections. I for one am grateful to Devon for sharing it. This provides us so much more than your average, Adrian Coxson, Floyd and Easley recommitted somewhere else fodder. If you prefer that, I'd suggest you try ESPN.
  • You could absolutely be right about the excellent character of Floyd. And would I have preferred to have a 4 or 5 star player commit to Penn State? Absolutely, heck, I'd be happy if a 5 star placeholder committed to Penn State. But are you telling me that the idea of a blue chip 18 year old being wrapped up about himself and have no educational aspirations in college other than to make it to the pros and eventually a huge contract outrageous? This is a first and second hand account from Devon and a legitimate source and they are entitled to their opinions just as you are.
  • And again I repeat myself. This is the opinion of a source involved with the recruitment of Floyd and he/she is entitled to it. I once again repeat that the fact that the idea of ANY blue chip recruit simply interested in making it to the next level is not an outrageous one. You have simply correlated that tendency to Floyd based on someone-who-has-actually-met-him's first hand observations. That's your prerogative. I do wish Floyd the best in his endeavors and I'm sure I'm not the only one in Nittany Nation that shares that sentiment.

    Is there a little bit of sour grapes? Sure, but we shall see in 3 OR 4 years (as you have quoted him as saying) whether or not receiving a degree was indeed his first priority.
  • Stew
    I'd prefer a guy who was good enough to make it to the NFL in 3 years than a guy who was pretty good that played all 4 years. We recruit for production on the field, and if he's good enough to leave early, we've done a pretty good job preparing him for his next job. Not sure we should slam people for leaving early. If they do, we've done our job. Just sayin.
  • DCPowerGator
    Sorry but I think it's insulting to say the kid has no educational aspirations in college, especially when all actual evidence appears to be contrary to this. First, in his verbal commit, he specifically said UF was the place for him to spend "the next four years of his life." Second, he carries a 3.0 gpa in HS, not too shabby. Third, he has a great work ethic, spending 10 hrs a day during the summer landscaping to make money to get to the AA games. Finally, his own words (which is as first hand an account as you can get), “My idea of the ideal school is a simple one. I’m not looking for anything specific, just a chance in life to improve myself. I’m not looking for the glamorous life, just an opportunity for an education and a chance to play football." Bottom line - it's an insult to say this kid has no educational goals and appears to be completely false. As such, it reeks of sour grapes and little else. My notion of Penn State fans has historically been that this type of baseless innuendo about a kid's character should be beneath you.
  • DCPowerGator
    IMHO i think it's time to at least consider that this -- "unless the coaching staff was bitter themselves when they gave that information to my source" -- is at least as likely as the contention that the kid is lying (multiple times, to multiple sources, over a lengthy period of time) about what he wants in his college experience... for no apparent reason. i should not have said your information was "baseless," that was an error on my part. i have no reason to doubt that is what you were told; however, i doubt the veracity of the statement itself.

    FYI, i stumbled across this because i am interested in the coxson saga for obvious reasons and do appreciate your insights. i am sorry if i hijacked your thread, I have tried not to flame here and I appreciate your responses.

    i think the question of 3 or 4 years is sort of a red herring. this isn't college basketball (thank goodness) with the one and done issues. if sharrif floyd is a likely top 10 pick after his junior year, why shouldn't he leave early? even if he intended all along to stay 4 years, i don't think that an early departure would "prove" that he was a liar about wanting to stay 4 years, that he was not academically inclined, etc. after all, most of us attended college primarily to get a good job, right?!

    florida is indeed often hard hit by junior departures; however, nearly all are due to the quality of the players and their high NFL draft projections. joe haden and carlos dunlap have both appeared in the top 10-15 picks of many mock drafts. why should they stay? they are clearly ready. aaron hernandez is a top 5 tight end prospect and maurkice pouncey won the rimington trophy as the nation's best center. so they also seem to be ready.

    however, tim tebow and brandon spikes returned last year for their senior years. it swings both ways. it is common sense that if you have a disproportionate amount of exceptional players, you are likely to have a higher rate of early NFL departures. this is nothing new. emmitt smith left after his junior year in 1989 and walked with me during my commencement ceremony at UF in 1995. like many early departures, he finished his coursework in the offseasons until he earned his degree.

    thanks again for bearing with me and realizing that i am making inquiries, not flaming. i'll always pull for penn state over anybody else in the big televen. also, say hello to galen hall. true Gators were all very happy when JoePa gave him another shot. he got a raw deal in 1989, due mostly to the overreaction of the NCAA, and he was a great head coach and recruiter for us. many of the players he recruited were key parts of spurrier's first SEC title teams in the early 90s.
  • psudevon
    I can assure that I didn't mean to slam the kid, nor is my information "baseless." Rather, Floyd was acting in his own best interest, to be sure, and that's not a dig at Floyd, but rather what my source told me about what he was looking for in a college. He wanted a school that could help him achieve the personal goal of getting to the NFL, rather than to graduate or receive a good education. That's perfectly fine, and it's not sour grapes, unless the coaching staff was bitter themselves when they gave that information to my source.
  • DCPowerGator
    oh yes, the are plenty of truths and nontruths out there. i think it's pretty simplistic to think that all penn state favorable outcomes are the truths. the assertion that not getting sharif floyd is better for penn state than getting him is completely inane. the fact that a guidance counselor and other people at the school impressed by the kid raised money on their own time to send him to the USAAA combine as a junior speaks a helluva lot more to his character than third-hand accounts allegedly spoken by a staff member from a school he spurned.

    http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/2...
  • psudevon
    Nowhere did my source tell me that he felt Floyd was a bad kid, just that he'd been pressured along a path by some outside influences, and that he was more interested in making the NFL than in anything else--and that's a desire shared by, probably, most college football players, including plenty at Penn State. Never was my source, the staff, or myself trying to trash Floyd, but rather produce an explanation as to why Floyd, who at one time seemed destined to commit to Penn State, is going to Florida. You guys are a football factory, while we're admittedly, more about family.
  • Bahmo
    PSU is a great school and its success in graduating football players is admirable. I could, perhaps, argue that any list that puts WVU above any other school is suspect or assert based purely on conjecture that UF's numbers suffer slighlty because we had a coaching change before the 05 season, which always results in a lot of turnover. However, the only point I wanted to make is that UF is a highly respected institution and not simply a football factory. When you say football factory, I think of scholar athletes like Deion Sanders and Lawrence Phillips and programs from the 80's and 90's like Miami, FSU, and Nebraska. We're significantly better than that. If you want to assert that PSU is more serious about academics for its football players, that's great. I have nothing to refute that, nor do I have any reason to doubt it. However, your statements were more like "we care about each other and provide an education that rivals Harvard, while you just see football players as bags of meat that need only show up Saturday afternoons in the fall."

    As something of an aside: I don't post much on the boards I read every day, and I don't normally feel compelled to defend UF when criticized by a fan of another school. So, why did I respond here? While you may not have meant it this way, your statement that we are a factory followed by "while we're admittedly more about family" just struck me as so incredibly smug and ignorant (I live in the South, so I am very familiar with that combination) that I had to respond. It may be that I simply read way too much tone and intent into that "admittedly," but in case you care how your writing is interpreted . . .

    In any event, go Lions!
  • psudevon
    Bahmo-
    You can talk about the overall reputation of the schools all you want, but the fact is that Penn State has, almost every year, one of the highest graduation rates for athletes, while Florida does not. I'll pass along this ranking of the top 25 schools in the BCS arranged by academic criteria for its football players, and while PSU is #1, UF is #20.
    http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogposts/2...
  • Bahmo
    For what they are worth, the US News & World Report rankings placed PSU and UF in a tie at 47th. You are writing as though a kid turned down Northwestern to go to Florida State or West Virginia. Penn State puts plenty of players into the NFL and probably has as many or more first round picks than UF over any stretch of time you might choose. No kid is going to say to himself, "I can't go to PSU because I want to go to the NFL." I know nothing about Floyd or his motivations, but you obviously do not know much about the University of Florida. That's okay. I am sure that I think many of your players are slower and softer than they really are due to regional biases. Further, it is just another reason to hate the Noles and Canes for trashing the entire state's reputation.
  • psudevon
    Okay, Gator, I can't say that I know too much about Florida's recruiting policies, but you'll see far more Florida players who leave after three years, who don't graduate, and who have difficulty in the classroom than at Penn State, but you'll also see more players in the NFL, in the first round, and more blue chippers. I'm sure Urban wants to create a family like atmosphere--even Pete Carroll was as close to his players as any coach, ever--but if you were going to lean to one or the other, I think you'd say Florida is about preparing players for the NFL, rather than cultivating them as individuals.
  • DCPowerGator
    Thanks for the reply. One correction, we're both a football factory and "about family." Most of our committed recruits mention the excellence of the football program and the university along with the family atmosphere provided by Coach Meyer, Shelley Meyer, and the rest of the staff. I won't bore you with multiple examples of this unless you so desire but, believe me, this is no Miami of the 80s program.
  • Decide
    "the tight ship that Joe Paterno runs would’ve held him back from living it up"
    Uh, headlines involving numerous players over the past few years suggest that JoePa's 'tight ship' may not, in reality, be all that tight.
  • and even Beamer had to live through the Marcus Vick years. Joe Paterno's track record might not be spotless, but it comes as close as you can possibly get especially when dealing with 18-23 year old kids.
  • I'd challenge you to find another coach in the country that runs a program like Joe Paterno does. The closest person I can imagine to resemble his old school discipline style is Frank Beamer.
  • Good work Devon!
  • Devon is a douche
    Your fat ass doesn't count as a source, loser.
  • psudevon
    Cool, I've always wanted haters.
  • Please Believe
    Y'all are crazy... PSU just lost out. First off, he's a good kid.... 2nd.... He's been either starting at WR or QB for 3 years... He isn't being noticed because A) he's in B'more, MD. B) he played QB and didn't take 1 snap as a WR his senior year... and to be honest he's a prospect at QB.. Okla wanted him in their spread.... His senior year he played dual threat QB... ran for a 1000 yds and if his wr's could catch he'd have passed for a 1000.. but he had like 650... He's a beast return guy... and he has college size...and big time speed.. Whoever that guy at PSU said he didn't like him...HE'S AN IDIOT... Urban Meyer is visiting on Thanksgiving for Florida.. But McWhatever his name "isn't enamored" LMAO!!! Adrian may go down as the best player ever from Baltimore City college... better than Bryant too....
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