PSU Nittany Lions

Someone forgot to tell Brady Hoke and Bill O’Brien that Michigan and Penn State were expected to have relatively small recruiting classes in 2014. Tom VanHaaren and Josh Moyer break down the latest additions. And is five-star Da’Shawn Hand Big Ten-bound?

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden pulled one player aside several times during Saturday's advanced skills camp, gesturing and smiling while offering some tips.

That player, 2014 linebacker Jason Cabinda (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central), nodded along with Vanderlinden and appeared to take the instruction well -- especially for a recruit whose film mostly showcases him at tailback and defensive end.

"They wanted to see if I was comfortable playing at linebacker," Cabinda said. "Any mistakes I made for the most part were just mental mistakes, because of me not playing linebacker and not me physically being unable to do something. So that was a really good sign. They feel like I just need some coaching up, and I'll be fine."

The Nittany Lions have recruited Cabinda since his sophomore season, but teams' interest has especially picked up since April. His offer list increased from just one to more than a dozen, mostly from FCS schools. He now counts several FBS schools -- Boston College, UConn, UMass, Navy, Syracuse, Temple -- on that offer sheet.

The 6-foot-2, 221-pound athlete visited campus a few months ago, after junior day, to watch spring practice. And, although he doesn't yet hold a PSU offer, he thought he greatly improved his standing with the staff after his camp performance.

"They said they think very highly of me, and they definitely want me to come back," Cabinda said. "They said if they didn't think highly of me, then they wouldn't have asked me to come back. So I hope I'll be hearing from them soon.

"I've just always loved Penn State. I came here before, and I just love the campus. I visited the stadium; I was just laying down inside and taking it in. So, yeah, I really do like Penn State."

New offer out: 2015 CB Minkah Fitzpatrick (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) stood out as the top athlete at PSU's camp and earned an offer from PSU before the afternoon's second session started up.

Bill O'Brien talked to Fitzpatrick's father on the field for several minutes during the morning session, and the elder Fitzpatrick said he enjoyed the chat. His son already boasts nine offers, and he'll undoubtedly be receiving more as he attends more camps and his film trickles out.

His father, also named Minkah, told NittanyNation his son will be stopping at several camps this summer and is only looking at schools in which he has considerable interest. PSU was Fizpatrick's first stop, but he also plans to see Alabama next month and has a South Carolina visit scheduled.

Fitzpatrick also wants to see Ohio State, Clemson and Michigan before his junior season begins.

Jesse James lookalike? One tight end who caught a lot of on-lookers' eyes was 2014 TE Alec Bloom (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier), who stands at 6-foot-7 just like sophomore TE Jesse James.

Bloom, whose primary sport was basketball until this year, showed nice hands on several passes. He holds no offers but appears to be primary run-on material. This was his first-ever football camp, and the tight end felt the coaches noticed him Saturday.

And, of course, he was well-aware of those inevitable James comparisons.

"You ever hear of Jes--," someone asked.

"Jesse James," Bloom interrupted, laughing. "Yeah, I watched tape on him, and he's very good. He's a role model, so to speak."

On a lighter note ... : As soon O'Brien entered Holuba Hall, PSU's indoor practice facility, it was pretty easy to see just how starstruck some of the recruits were.

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NittanyNation takes a look at this past week's Penn State football news and what you might have missed:

• Noah Beh became the Nittany Lions' 10th commit of the 2014 class, and his commitment is an important one for several big reasons . Beh also talked about what he liked about PSU about 36 hours before his comment.
• Montae Nicholson talked about his recruitment in this video and also acknowledged PSU still wants him, despite Marcus Allen's commitment. Nicholson's already up to 32 offers, and in this feature, he thanks track for helping him get this far .
• We talked about the next three commits, recruits' thoughts (or lack thereof) on the recent medical issue and also looked ahead to the upcoming season during Friday's Penn State chat.
• ESPN 150 athlete Dravon Henry talked about his interest in Penn State and where he might head on his official visits.
• 2015 OT Ryan Bates said he was grateful for his recent PSU offer , but the Nittany Lions aren't his favorite school right now.
• The Big Ten is producing fewer top NFL picks than ever before, and Adam Rittenberg took a closer look at the trend.
• 2015 OL Steven Gonzalez talked about where PSU ranks right now and other thoughts on his recruitment in this in-depth Q&A .
• George Mitchell, the independent monitor at PSU, said PSU "has continued to press forward in good faith in fulfilling its obligations ..." when it comes to the sanctions and the recommendations from the Freeh Report.
• In last week's "Tales from the Road," we took a look at prospect performances, the past week's targets and more.
• According to a source, the Big Ten and the Pinstripe Bowl agreed to a six-year partnership and will make a formal announcement later today. Starting in 2014, the B1G will annually play an ACC team.
• So, now that Jabrill Peppers committed to Michigan, what does that mean for other finalists like Penn State? Jared Shanker has the scoop.
• Joe Paterno's family -- along with former players, trustees and others -- filed a lawsuit against the NCAA that sought to overturn the sanctions. Legal analyst Lester Munson wrote that the most recent lawsuit seemed to be missing its mark and questioned why Penn State president Rodney Erickson isn't targeted more.
• 2015 LB Justin Hilliard already holds 20 offers -- including one from PSU -- and Jared Shanker writes that crushing hits are a routine part of the prospect's game.
• 2015 DT James Daniels is used to the recruiting game since his father and brother both went through it all. And, yes, he holds a PSU offer.

Noah Beh (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Prep) said late Thursday night that he was leaning heavily toward PSU but hadn't yet made a decision. At one point in the conversation, though, he slipped and talked about what an "easy decision" this was.

Beh acknowledged Saturday, soon after becoming PSU's 10th commit, that he's actually known for a few days now that he would become a Nittany Lion. He just wanted Bill O'Brien and Co. to be the first to know. He wanted to tell the staff in-person at Saturday's advanced skills camp.

"I think I had it in my mind," the offensive tackle said shortly after committing Saturday. "I just wanted to get up here and be around everything to make sure."

Beh narrowed his list to Boston College and Penn State. He told NittanyNation a little more than two weeks ago that the Lions were the favorite. But he just needed a little reassurance PSU was the right fit.

Offensive line coach Mac McWhorter advised Beh to think about what's most important to him -- -- relationships, proximity, academics, etc. -- and Beh's mind kept coming back to the Nittany Lions. McWhorter suggested a visit might help speed along his decision, and Beh agreed to attend the first summer camp.

PSU wasn't always the favorite for the 250-pound prospect, but it gradually become his top destination. Looking back on how everything slowly evolved, Beh struggled coming up with the deciding factor.

"I don't think I could just pick one thing," he said. "I've been thinking about it a lot, the whole picture, and I just think that it's right for me."

The staff beckoned Beh inside the Lasch Football Building shortly after the end of the morning's first camp session. Beh's father hinted an announcement was coming, and the OT/DE didn't disappoint. He spoke with tight end-turned-offensive tackle Garry Gilliam, who put on about 30 pounds this offseason, and his father texted a few reporters afterward to let everyone know it was official. Noah Beh was finally a Nittany Lion.

Beh's cellphone buzzed with dozens of texts and phone calls wishing him congratulations. The 2014 recruit smiled and said he felt good where he stood, especially because -- after chatting with Gilliam -- he was even more convinced his weight of about 250 pounds wouldn't be an issue.

"I felt good about that. So, I mean, they said it'll take care of itself," he said. "They know what they're doing here."

Beh, whom other teams recruited for defensive end, chose Penn State over offers from Boston College, Colgate, UConn, Maryland, UMass, Pitt, Syracuse and Temple.

He finished his junior season with 70 tackles and 10 sacks. On offense, he started on a balanced attack that scored at least five touchdowns in seven games. He's the first offensive lineman of this class.

NittanyNation reporter Josh Moyer stopped by SportsNation on Friday to chat about the state of Penn State football and answer your questions.

Penn State is dealing with unprecedented NCAA sanctions, and the unprecedented nature means that the program is still working its way through all the potential potholes.

The Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News' Audrey Snyder has a fascinating series of stories Friday about how the Nittany Lions are learning to deal with the sanctions, particularly when it comes to the scholarship limits. She writes:

"As much as the sanctions were examined when they were announced, the penalties against Penn State present questions the coaches and compliance officers are still learning to answer.

"[Head coach Bill] O’Brien examines the NCAA handbook regularly, highlighting questions and going to his bosses for answers. The staff continues to be proactive about the situation, formulating a recruiting strategy for the next four to five years and putting out small fires as they flare up.

“'Data really isn’t out there in the public realm to see how something like this unfolds,' Penn State associate athletic director for compliance and student-athlete services, Matt Stolberg said recently. 'Compliance people usually aren’t in high demand, but here we pretty much talk about football scholarship numbers on a daily basis.'"

One of the lesser-known clauses in the NCAA punishment allows players to stay on full scholarship even if they decide to leave the team and just become regular students. Any player who was on the roster when the sanctions were announced last summer can take this option before they graduate.

That clause was intended to help the players, but it could hurt the team. That's because those scholarships will count against Penn State's football scholarship limit, which lowers to an NCAA-mandated 65 next year. Those scholarships can't be revoked unless the former players fail to meet academic requirements, which include GPA and credit-hour benchmarks.

Snyder writes that three former players have exercised that option to stay on scholarship, including ex-linebacker Dakota Royer, who did the team a favor by graduating early. Still, that clause may pose an even bigger threat to Penn State's depth than the one that allows players to transfer without penalty up until this year's fall practice, because it would mean even fewer scholarships available. O'Brien has said he expects to have 67 scholarship players this fall, a year before the 65-scholarship limit sets in. That's not counting transfers or players who leave the team but get to keep their scholarship.

O'Brien's celebrated "run-on" program is supposed to help bridge the gap. But, as Snyder writes, there are some complications with bringing in non-scholarship players as well. Penn State's compliance department will have to monitor closely whether any of those walk-ons can receive academic scholarships or outside financial aid and still not be counted as a football scholarship. The Lions are allowed only 15 "initial scholarship counters" for four years under the sanctions, and a walk-on can be counted among those if he receives financial aid and meets the NCAA definition of a recruit, which includes things as simple as meeting with a coach off campus.

Snyder explains:

"This means if a walk-on was recruited by the NCAA’s definition, receives institutional aid from Penn State or any outside academic award, and then participates in a game, he will count as one of the Nittany Lions’ 65 scholarships. It doesn’t matter that the award isn’t deemed a “football scholarship” because it’s for academics, it still has to be counted as if it was a football scholarship.

"The rule was put in place by the NCAA to make sure schools weren’t bolstering their athletic programs by giving players aid for academics instead of football scholarships. ... In the future, Penn State could start a season with fewer than 65 scholarship players because they might need to allow for a cushion in case a handful of walk-ons meeting the criteria see playing time."

Snyder writes that Penn State may have to entice potential walk-ons only by email, because any phone calls or visits could turn them into the NCAA's definition of a recruit. Walk-ons would have to visit campus on their own and talk to the coaches there.

These stories illustrate some of the many, many challenges O'Brien and Penn State will have to deal with for the next few years.

 

 

 

Josh Moyer will be chatting at 1 p.m. ET today to discuss Penn State football and recruiting. You can submit questions and join the live chat here.

Senior writer and legal analyst Lester Munson takes a look at the most recent lawsuit filed against the NCAA and writes that, although the suit is impressive, it appears to miss the mark.

Among the questions Munson raises is why complaints from Joe Paterno's family, trustees, former players and faculty members weren't directed toward Penn State president Rodney Erickson, who agreed to the sanctions.

Click here to read the full commentary.