The Lions' Pride

Sorry guys for taking so long, so I decided to provide part 2 of the notebook. I’ve tried all week to get in touch with psu2013, but it appears he’s lost in Europe somewhere so we’ll have to hold off on an update there for now. Anyway onto the notes for the week.

rmj147
Not even sure where to start with this one. I’d say the easiest way to think of rmj is the anti-Brian Lemelle. This guy talked so much during our interview I wasn’t even able to get a question off before my next interview 2 hours later. I’m pretty sure he was more concerned about finding a guy to put his highlight tape together than he was about figuring out where he wanted to play. He then spent an hour talking about the bars closing on St. Patty’s Day before we got back to the conversation about football. Definitely looking at him as a defensive back and seems to have a man crush on some of his fellow recruits at the same positions.

MTayl72
One of the few big men being pursued right now. My biggest concern here is getting him on campus. He’s never been to SC before and doesn’t have any current plans. He seems to be pretty buddy buddy with psu2013, but I wouldn’t quite call it a package deal as their friendship isn’t much more than social media right now. Now if you thought the stories of Joey O’Connors daily diet was interesting last year, you’d never believe this guy.

tdiddy
There seemed to be a disconnect during this interview. I’m not quite sure we were talking about the same sport during the interview and I’m also unsure of why he kept mentioning this girl “Chelsea.” He seemed to have quite a fondness for this girl, so considering the PA roots this could be very beneficial to keeping tdiddy in state.

TexasLion
This one is clearly a two horse race right now: PSU and Oklahoma. TexasLion definitely appears interested in leaving the state of Texas and trying new things, but he went on and on and on about the history of Oklahoma and you would have thought he was their number 1 fan with his defensiveness. Luckily for PSU, he just broke up with his girlfriend of six years, so that could lead to a more distant school for TexasLion. Definitely one to keep an eye on here.

ejb5212
I’m not quite sure this was a good week to catch an interview. I’m pretty sure when I caught him, he had been up for 56 consecutive hours, just had drinks with his parents, and was preparing for a couple tests that he couldn’t get changed. Anyway, ejb5212 appears to be the kind of person PSU wants. Has a high motor, demonstrated by the relentlessness in his THON efforts. I’m feeling pretty good with where PSU sits here.

smlion
A new under the radar recruit that we’ll give a slight introduction to this week. Look for more in the S-Zone on the background, but this kid bleeds PSU. Would be an immediate pickup with an offer, the only problem is I’m not sure if it’ll come. Seems to be a similar case to Andrew Ford. Limited scholarship offers may prevent an offer that might come during normal circumstances.

new-era
Seems to be the new Anzalone with the constant attention grabbing tactics. I normally try to focus on the higher rated recruits in the notebook, but this 2-star was calling me everyday begging to be included. Not much to comment on, as I can’t even see the staff taking the kid as a walk-on. To be honest, I’m not quite sure he could cut it as a ball boy, but according to Bob L. it seems Pitt is close to offering.

Well that’s it for this week. As you can see we have a variety of situations we’re monitoring closely right now, but with limited scholarships there is going to be a lot of wait and see approaches this year.

Got a few late interviews to add.

PSUMel
High on the board of both the staff and the resident posters here, PSUMel is also one of the highest rated 5 stars by the 247 staff. I don’t like to shoot lines of BS around here, but I can honestly say this looks like a lock. Now I’m not going Evan Flood percentage style (because what kind of sense does that make, it’s either 0 or 100), but this definitely looks like the latter of two numbers. If I had to draw comparisons, I see this recruitment going sort of the way of Adam Breneman’s from last year. Definitely big into the Twitter game and could be a great way to begin the year with not only a big recruit, but a big recruiter. Work rate is extremely impressive and the skill set is definitely 5 stars.

Appoo
A recruit that we heard about a lot early on, but seemed to really disappear off the recruiting seen in the past year. There’s been a few whispers out of the Appoo camp recently, but it’s still sort of get a gauge where PSU is at in this commitment. One of the few recruits that probably would have been a lock for the previous staff, but BOB hasn’t given up hope yet. Not one I’d feel real confident on, but one to keep an eye on.

2/22 Update

jmaus24
I mentioned in my update a few weeks ago that I'm not real sure QB is much of a priority in this class, but here's another one to monitor if PSU decides to go that route. A PSU fan growing up, particularly a John Schaffer fan, this is obviously a guy PSU has an inside track on if they want to go that route. You could definitely hear the passion in his voice during the conversation and he's not afraid to lay it out there about how he feels. He recounted one story to me about his sophomore season. He threw a pass right to the opposing safety in the second round of the playoffs ending the season for his team. He said he got pretty distraught about the whole thing, but a revitalizing conversation with his girlfriend reminded him of everything he's worked towards and that really motivated him heading into his junior season. His team ended up making it to the State Championship this past season and in a short talk with his coach he attributed it to jmaus24's resiliency. Even if the scholarship doesn't come through, I would expect a strong push from the staff for a run-on position.

Philafan
I ended up going through two phones while on the phone, even turning the speaker volume to 1 couldn't save the phone. A recruit that fits more the bill of Coach Chambers and the basketball team with his philly swagger, philafan has dedicated himself to the football field although he did have a brief stint on the soccer pitch, but he found himself sitting out more games for cards than he ended up playing. While I like Penn State's chances here, I caution you guys into believing everything you read with him. I got a call from philafan a couple weeks ago asking if O'Brien was quitting coaching to buy some local pizza joint. I quickly assured him that he was taking his sons out to eat, but there are a few question marks that accompany the talent. I think 247 has the correct 4 star rating, a player with a high ceiling, but might be too much of a risk in this class. Strangely enough he ended the conversation with a "Go Pens" - an odd ending to a unique conversation.

PSUbills62
If you're looking for the next John Urschel, this might be your best bet. Wants to major in mechanical engineering and already has designed several computer programs that have helped his classmates study more effectively. I think I actually got more information about not only his fellow teammates, but also the other D-1 athletes in his county than most coaches could give me. Very easy interview and I believe he'd have a chance to get some early PT with an aptness to picking up the playbook quickly.

Couple quick hitters
I asked Hamilton Lion how he'd feel about playing with MTayl72 at PSU, being there one mutual offer. Told me "there's no chance MTayl72 ends up at PSU, so it's really not worth discussing. I severely doubt he'll ever visit the state of Pennsylvania."

Blue-chip football/basketball recruit comm told me he's going to pursue basketball. Apparently a disagreement with his high school football coach has really turned him off the sport.

A real old name - 5 years ago you may recall a young up-and-coming athlete, tortoise. Apparently he fizzled out once he entered high school and his family moved to the Galapagos.

getmyjive11 narrowed his list to 3 today (which yes includes PSU), but the more interesting news was the elimination of Rutgers. If you guys recall, the fans there were pretty confident, but I'll admit it was a pretty creepy fascination. Some fan, RutgersAl, even had a youtube video trying to sing him into a commitment.

I know there were some requests to get an interview with sneakypete. Unfortunately when I called, all I heard was a screaming baby and then the phone disconnected. I'll keep trying though.