ESPN Recruiting Nation Football

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- What sanctions?

In the latest ESPN rankings, Penn State boasts the No. 17 recruiting class -- second-best in the Big Ten -- with a trio of ESPN 300 prospects in WR De'Andre Thompkins (No. 54), QB Michael O'Connor (No. 125) and WR Chris Godwin (No. 153). And if that surprises you, then you just haven't been paying attention.

Forget the bowl ban. Forget the reduced scholarships -- because PSU's commits sure have. Thompkins, still ranked as the No. 54 overall prospect, picked the Lions over schools in the SEC, ACC and Big 12. (And let's not forget Notre Dame, too.)

And that success is only going to continue because, as Thompkins put it, the main reason for these commitments isn't going to change.

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Penn State recently added commitments from ESPN 150 athlete De'Andre Thompkins (Swansboro, N.C./Swansboro) and receiver Chris Godwin (Middletown, Del./Middletown), an ESPN 300 candidate. Our scouts feel these are major upgrades for the Nittany Lions.

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The New Level Athletics 7-on-7 Midwest Regional attracted 21 teams from Delaware, Indiana, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Canada. The competition was strong Saturday from this one-day tournament as the teams battled well into the night. The Class of 2014 stood out, but individuals from 2015 and 2016 showed their presence as well. There were even some eighth-graders giving it their all, as each squad fought for the title.

RecruitingNation writers Brad Bournival and Jared Shanker attended the regional. Here are five things they learned:

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Penn State coach Bill O’Brien just signed the country’s No. 1 quarterback in the 2013 class, and now he is going after a 2014 quarterback on the Watch List.

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Coaches aren't able to talk about individual recruits until they sign their letters of intent. Here's how Penn State coach Bill O'Brien responded to questions about them Wednesday:

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Christian Hackenberg is the highest-rated quarterback to sign with a Big Ten team since Terrelle Pryor signed with Ohio State, and Hackenberg is the star of Penn State's 2013 class. He's been asked numerous questions from scouts, analysts, reporters and college coaches -- so we thought we'd try something different.

For the last few days, we've been taking questions from college football fans on Twitter. Hackenberg agreed to answer them, so we chose 10 of the best questions and posed them to him Monday night.

Here's what the No. 15 high school senior in the country -- and No. 1 quarterback -- had to say:

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With two weeks left until signing day, NittanyNation takes a closer look at what fans should know about the state of the class and this Penn State team.

Team needs: Defensive coordinator John Butler made it clear he wasn't happy with the secondary's depth last season. At cornerback, untested true freshman Da'Quan Davis was the backup, and the safeties opened the year as the team's weakness.

That's not the only concern. With Matt McGloin's departure, Steven Bench is now the most experienced quarterback on the team. And he threw just eight passes last season. Linebacker is also a position that could use a few extra bodies, especially with Michael Mauti and Gerald Hodges making a run at the NFL.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -– Team Nitro and Team Highlight took to the fields at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports on Monday for Day 1 of practice for Friday’s Under Armour All-America Game (5 p.m. ET, ESPN). Two powerhouse programs in the Southeastern Conference look to battle it out for one of the standout running backs, and one of the top uncommitted offensive linemen is out with an injury.

Tide and Dawgs at top for RB Kamara

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Tyler Boyd contends there is no No. 1 on his list. If there was, the Clairton (Pa.) athlete would be committing in three weeks.

That likely will not be the case anymore for the ESPN 300 recruit and record-setting playmaker.

"It's still dated on [Jan. 5] but still thinking if I should commit or not. It's a decision I'm not ready for," Boyd said. "It's still Michigan State, Penn State, Rutgers, Arizona, West Virginia and Pitt.

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More than a dozen recruits and commits will converge on Happy Valley for their official visits this weekend, and Penn State's coaching staff is hoping it might earn at least one more commitment.

A majority of Penn State's 13 commits will drive or fly to campus Friday and then leave Sunday. The staff is hoping their loyalty rubs off on a quartet of uncommitted prospects, as this weekend is undoubtedly one of the most important -- recruiting-wise -- of the season.

Here's the visitors' list:

UNCOMMITTED PROSPECTS

DaeSean Hamilton, WR
Stafford, Va./Mountain View
Four stars, No. 51 at position
Synopsis: He's already gone on official visits to Wake Forest and Virginia, and he might also see Virginia Tech. He wants to make a decision before the New Year, so this visit could likely go a long way in helping him decide. He's never before been to Happy Valley.

Zayd Issah, LB
Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin
Three stars, No. 118 at position (ATH)
Synopsis: He's been to Penn State multiple times, but he figured it was worth attending an official visit to see if it offered a different perspective or deeper look. He'll take an Oregon official after this -- and possibly another to Arizona State. But, at this point, it's probably a race between the Ducks and Lions.

Deondre Singleton, Cornerback
Unrated
Lawrenceville, Ga./Archer
Synopsis: Penn State is clearly Singleton's best offer. When asked last month why he hasn't yet committed, he said he just wants to a visit a school first before he makes a decision. It would be a surprise to see him land elsewhere; a commitment could be coming soon from Singleton.

Jonathan Walton, LB
Unrated
Daphne, Ala./Bayside
Synopsis: He went on an official visit to Minnesota last week, but it's clear PSU has a very good chance to land the linebacker. He took on a part-time job over the summer so he could afford to fly himself to Penn State for a camp, and he said he wanted to see the campus and get a feeling for what student life would actually be like -- since Penn State was deserted when he came up before.

COMMITTED PROSPECTS

• Adam Breneman

• Christian Hackenberg

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Malcolm Cook (Fork Union, Va./Fork Union) hasn't officially decommitted from Virginia following the firing of four assistants, but the safety said he's re-opening his recruitment.

In the last 48 hours, the prospect has received 11 offers and entertained visits and phone calls from the likes of Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and USC. He planned to speak with the Trojans after basketball practice Wednesday, and he chatted in-person with Penn State assistant Charles London on Tuesday.

"It doesn't really matter to me about other schools looking at me," he said, when asked whether this new attention was a consolation. "The reason I committed to Virginia was because of the defensive coordinator, Coach [Jim] Reid. So I was really hurt by Coach Reid not being there.

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2014 linebacker Greg Miclisse (Palm Bay, Fla./Bayside) is quickly becoming stressed.

He came home Friday to 18 recruiting letters and, on some days, he receives nearly a dozen Facebook messages from coaches. As a result, Miclisse plans to release a top-10 list this week in hopes to narrow his list and calm his recruitment down a little bit.

"All these schools are coming to me, but there's a lot of stress and there's some that you really don't see yourself going to," Miclisse said. "I just want to take some stuff off my chest, and I think doing the top 10 will take a lot of the stress away."

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