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| Subject: BOOM DAY | |
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Author: hafer |
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Date Posted: 09:40:21 02/05/14 Wed as tony said, happy national letter of intent day to all! so far this am, everyone but 3 players have faxed in their loi. 2 of the dudes left to send are on the west coast and the other is a solid lock so no drama here. they are also still waiting to see if brown pulls the trigger for the good guys. we'll know soon. here's a nice article on franklin and how he's the man. When James Franklin was hired at Penn State on Jan. 9, the Nittany Lions had commitments from just 16 prospects. By the end of that weekend, that number was at 18, and today, including the five early enrollees who joined the squad the following week, Penn State's Class of 2014 checks in at 24. Penn State introduces James Franklin A third of Penn State's Class of 2014 came on board after Franklin was introduced on Jan. 11. Experts and fans alike can't wait to see what Penn State's new coach and his staff do with a full recruiting cycle. "It might have been a tough spot for an unknown coach," said 247Sports national recruiting writer Steve Wiltfong. "But a guy like James Franklin who already has a reputation going to Penn State, which has an extremely high football prestige reputation, there was recruiting momentum from the day he was hired. When it became public, he was able to land a few recruits that day, and it just dominoes." Each of the eight prospects that committed to Franklin -- not including Louisville defensive end Lloyd Tubman, who opted for Kentucky this week -- had been previously pledged to another program. Five of those were committing to him for a second time after previously committing to Vanderbilt. Like the rest of the class, which elected to stay and play for Franklin after committing to Bill O'Brien -- Thomas Holley, Troy Vincent and Donte Raymond were the only three O'Brien commitments who opted to go elsewhere -- those players liked Franklin's vision for the program. "I think that all these guys really believed that the rise of Vanderbilt was tied much more to James Franklin than anything else," said 247Sports national recruiting analyst Barton Simmons, "and so when he brings his whole staff with him, and he's put in so much sweat equity with these guys, it really is a heck of a referendum for his rapport with these kids." Simmons believes the fact that seven Vanderbilt assistant coaches followed Franklin to State College was a big reason why Penn State closed with a class that finished just outside the nation's Top 20. "Not only are you able to sort of continue to preach the same clear message with the new program, particularly with a program like Penn State that had some of the similar selling points, but I think even more important than that is the chemistry is still there," Simmons said. "When the kids come on their official visits, they're not sitting there witnessing a coaching staff trying to get to know each other and jell. This is a coaching staff that's comfortable with each other, knows each other, knows strengths, can create an environment on campus that is really welcoming for these guys and makes it feel like family. I think that's as important as anything. When you've got a staff that's got to get to know each other before they can feel comfortable much less make the kid feel comfortable, that can be a tough task. I think that Franklin's kind of got his own little family in place, and that really helped their efforts late in the game." The stars of the class are the offensive skill players -- wide receivers De'Andre Thompkins, Chris Godwin and Saeed Blacknall, tight end Mike Gesicki and quarterback Michael O'Connor -- but, thanks in part to the late additions, Penn State was able to fill some needed holes along the offensive line and in the secondary. Simmons likes the long-term potential of athletic offensive tackle prospects Brendan Brosnan and Chance Sorrell -- both Vanderbilt decommits -- and loves the cumulative skill set of what he believes is a versatile group of defensive backs, headlined by safety Koa Farmer and cornerback Amani Oruwariye. The efforts of O'Brien and his staff, who were severely limited by NCAA scholarship restrictions until late September (and even then still somewhat limited in this class), should not be discounted. But nor should the efforts of the new staff in assembling a third of the class in less than a month. It might be a precursor for even bigger things, said Wiltfong. "The recipe was there for him to finish strong but a true tell is that I think he's going to do a really great job in the 2015 class, because any time you have a coaching change at a major university, you do reap the rewards of it on the recruiting trail," Wiltfong said. "You saw that with Bill O'Brien in his first year. I think you'll see that with James Franklin also because he has already proven himself to be one of the best head coach recruiters in the country. And his staff, they get after it on the trail as well." Wiltfong thinks Penn State will start looking to pull some talent from outside its traditional recruiting hot spots due to both the relationships Franklin's staff has already established there and the knowledge that the head coach relishes recruiting as much as he relishes competition. "He's going to go after the big fish now at Penn State," he said. "They're going to continue to recruit at a higher level, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out." [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |