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Penn State looks to land a top-20 recruiting class as National Signing Day approaches, but that may be a very unlikely scenario.
The Penn State Nittany Lions won the Big Ten Championship game. In the minds of many, that should have been the springboard to the College Football Playoff. After all, they did hang a loss on the only team from the Big Ten that was represented. Seeing the Ohio State Buckeyes get annihilated in the semi-final game didn’t quiet any of the criticism of the board’s decision, but there’s no point in crying over spilled milk either.
The Nittany Lions had to go with the next best thing. They were the co-stars of, arguably, the best college football game all year. The result was a hard-fought loss to the USC Trojans in the Rose Bowl. The success of the 2016 season has college football fans all asking one question.
What in the world does head coach James Franklin and company do for an encore?
The answer is simple. You reload and hope for, at least, a repeat performance (minus losing the last game of the season). Penn State is currently ranked as the 15th-best recruiting class by 247Sports.com.
All of that sounds great, but we have good news and bad news. The good news is the Nittany Lions still have a shot at adding one or two key components. The bad news is, unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that National Signing Day will be overwhelmingly exciting for Penn State fans. Still, you best believe this proud program will keep working until they can’t anymore.
Here are the biggest targets remaining of the players they’ve extended an offer to.
1. Ellis Brooks, ILB, Benedictine (VA)
Let’s start with some good news for the Penn State faithful. The program that was once known for churning out linebackers seems to be returning to that formula. Look at it this way. The Big Ten has three schools whose recruiting classes are ranked in the top 15. Two of them, Ohio State and the Michigan Wolverines, are ranked in the top five and adding phenomenal skill players to the cupboard every season. The Maryland Terrapins are nipping at Penn State’s heels at number 16
This team would like to have some playmakers along the defensive front seven.
They have a very strong chance of doing so by adding inside linebacker Ellis Brooks from Benedictine in Richmond, Virginia. Brooks stands at 6-foot-2 inches tall. He weighs 233 pounds, and he’s seen as a four-star linebacker by 247Sports.com. He’s also ranked 269th on their list of the best players in the country. That goes hand in hand with being ranked at 13th among inside linebackers and tenth overall for all players from the state of Virginia.
Everyone in Happy Valley will be pleased knowing that Penn State is believed to be the favorites to land Brooks although Maryland, the LSU Tigers and the Oregon Ducks may still be in the mix as well.
2. Tariq Castro-Fields, CB, Riverdale Baptist (MD)
Penn State’s top-20 ranking is attributable to quite a few things. They’ve added three highly-touted cornerbacks and don’t appear to be finished. Tariq Castro-Fields may be close to joining one of the most talented lineup of cornerbacks at the freshman position that you can find anywhere in the country.
Castro-Fields is 6-foot-1 and weighs in at 173 pounds. 247Sports.com sees him as the 34th-best cornerback in the country and as the eight-best overall player from the state of Maryland. He’s a four-star prospect that joins two other four-star cornerbacks and one three-star cornerback as part of Penn State’s 2017 class.
One of those four-star recruits comes in the form of Donovan Johnson, a 5-foot-10 standout who’s seen as the tenth-best player from the state of Michigan. The other is Lamont Wade. Wade is ranked 46th on 247Sports.com’s list of the best player in the country, and he’s seen as the second-best player from the state of Pennsylvania.
Throw in D.J. Brown and, possibly, Castro-Fields, and Penn State has a quartet of cover guys that will make Nittany Lions fans wish they could go back and play their last defensive possession of the Rose Bowl again.
3. Corey Bolds, DT, Paramus Catholic (NJ)
Penn State is believed to be one of Corey Bold’s top two choices to attend school and play college football. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are believed to be the other option. We went to 247Sports.com again to get some numbers and some information on this guy and this is part of what we found out.
Bolds is 6-foot-3 and 276 pounds. That’s great size for some NFL linemen. He’s also ranked 44th among defensive tackles, and he’s seen as the 14th-best player, regardless of position, from the state of New Jersey. That was enough to receive offers from just about everyone. Ohio State, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oklahoma Sooners made offers. So did Michigan , the Tennessee Volunteers and the Michigan State Spartans. Who are we kidding? Just about everybody from the Big Ten and every other major conference was interested.
The Clemson Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs are believed to be in the running as well, but the Nittany Lions hope that they can eventually overtake Rutgers, which 247Sports.com sees as the favorites once national Signing Day draws to a close. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s, indeed, what happens.
4. Cordarrian Richardson, RB, Trezevant (TN)
As great as a 15th-ranked recruiting class sounds, Penn State has an issue. They’re basically gridlocked on the recruiting board. Just about everybody they’ve made offers to have either signed with other schools or don’t see the Nittany Lions, at least from what we’ve gained from 247Sports.com, as their destination of choice. There are a few key guys the Lions have in their sight that they still have an outside shot at landing. One of those guys is running back Cordarrian Richardson, a 5-foot-11 standout from Trezevant in Tennessee.
If the Lions don’t have anything else, they know how to find guys and recruit them. Richardson is seen as the 160th-best player in the country. He’s 220 pounds which makes him bigger than some NFL running backs, and he has a burst that allows him to run away from guys. He’s also seen by 247Sports.com as the 10th best running back in the country, and he’s ranked as the eighth-best overall player from the state of Tennessee.
How did the Volunteers let this one get away?
It’s almost a forgone conclusion that Richardson will go with the Ole Miss Rebels, but the Lions have time. They may want to invest everything they can in getting this guy to change his mind and play ball in Happy Valley.
5. Elijah Conliffe, DT, Hampton (VA)
Those of you familiar with the recruiting process and have followed Conliffe are probably well aware of the fact that he’s probably going to be throwing on another team’s hat when National Signing Day rolls around. Don’t think for a second that there aren’t a ton of teams that aren’t still trying to make sure that they’re the lucky program.
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If you were able to walk into Penn State’s coaches meeting, you’d see his name on the board. He’s on everyone’s board. The Lions made the offer as did so many others. Now they probably have to beat out Florida, Tennessee and Alabama to win him over. It appears that “southern bias” might be working to the detriment of the Lions.
This shows us what we stated earlier. Penn State currently has 18 total commitments for their 2017 class. That includes nine four-star athletes and nine three-star athletes. What remains is a list of players who were offered that signed with other programs and a few guys they have an outside shot at landing.
It isn’t over by any means, but the job is only beginning. now they want to work a little harder, burn some midnight oil and see if they can pull off some surprises come National Signing Day. That will determine if they remain among the nation’s top recruiting classes or if they fall out of the top 20 entirely.
We’ll soon see.
