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How is Penn State’s 2016 recruiting class shaping up?

By Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State addressed two needs within the last day as the Lions added a verbal pledge from defensive tackle Antonio Shelton on Sunday and flipped wide receiver Dae’lun Darien from Temple to Penn State Monday morning. 

The Lions’ 2016 class is up to 19 members, including offensive lineman Connor McGovern, quarterback Jake Zembiec, tight end Danny Dalton and offensive tackle Alex Gellerstedt who enrolled in January. Coming in at No. 19 according to Rivals, Penn State’s class is still is in the mix for some high-end talents with some of the prospects not announcing their college decision until Wednesday afternoon. 

Who announces when?

-CB Damar Hamlin, Monday night

-LB Brendan Ferns, Wed. 7 am on twitter 

-CB Lavert Hill, Wed., TBA 

-CB K.J. Sails, Wed. 3:15 pm

-DE Rashad Weaver, Wed. 3 pm

While it’s important to see whether Penn State lands any of these players, it’s also key to see where they choose if it isn’t Penn State. Hamlin could end up at Pitt or Ohio State while Hill, once a Penn State verbal pledge, could play at Michigan or Michigan State.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on five-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary to see if Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines land him, thus making life harder on the Nittany Lions down the road, or if he goes elsewhere out of the conference. Gary will announce on Wednesday. 

Updated heights and weights

Penn State added the four early enrollees to the roster on Monday and here’s what they checked in at:

-QB Jake Zembiec: 6-3, 205

-TE Danny Dalton: 6-4, 240

-OT Alex Gellerstedt: 6-6, 275

-OL Connor McGovern: 6-5, 310 

McGovern physically is in a better spot than most offensive linemen when they arrive and while James Franklin likes to point to the third year as one where the linemen are physically and mentally ready to play we could see McGovern contribute earlier, maybe even in year two.  

Why so negative? 

James Franklin mentioned Penn State having to deal with negative recruiting when he addressed the media for his season ending teleconference. He said that’s not how his staff does business and vowed to take the high road. 

Interestingly enough when Penn State flipped former Temple verbal pledge Dae’lun Darien Monday morning the Owls’ receivers coach wasted no time mentioning negative recruiting. In a tweet that has since been deleted, here was the take from Temple’s receivers coach:

Now, in the crazy world that is college football recruiting I don’t see what the big deal is with negative recruiting. Surely it’s happening at quite a few schools these days (maybe even all of them), but where Temple does have some leverage now that they didn’t in the past is with that season opening win over the Nittany Lions.

As Penn State preps to play both Temple and Pitt this season look for the stakes both on the field and on the recruiting trail to heighten as the winner of each game will surely be using that as part of their recruiting pitch to in-state kids in the 2017 cycle. 

Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter @audsnyder4