Pryor Says…LIVE BLOG - FINAL DRAFT
3:20PM - I won’t be able to update around 4 today like I originally planned as something outside the world of college football recruting has come up that demands my attention to a greater degree. I know, it is hard to believe anything could be more important than one more blogger’s opinions on the latest Penn State recruiting class, but such is life right?
Anyway, I will get to address the class tomorrow. Maybe a good night’s sleep will be a good idea anyway with the craziness that occurred with Pryor and Shaw.
See you tomorrow Penn State fans!
3:09PM - As I was writing the previous update news came out that both Brandon Ware and Mike Farrell have officially sent in their LOI’s. That means that all of the Penn State recruits are accounted for, whether they committed to PSU or elsewhere. I’ll take some time and look over how things look to this point. Expect the next update around 4pm or so.
3:06PM - ESPN 2 is carrying ESPN U’s recruiting special now. Who is one of the desk panelists? None other than good old Mike Gottfried.
And how about the bold statement by Clemson recruit Jamie Harper who told his high school teammate, who is also going to Clemson, that his senior year he would have to do it on his own because Harper “will be gone in three years man.” So in effect he has already said he is declaring for the NFL draft, right? Bold move son. Bold move.
2:19PM - Wow. Illinois has 28 players signed and is waiting on two players. Penn State has 14. Notre Dame is getting props for what is being deemed by far the top signing class presented by Charlie Weis. Of course the drawback for Notre Dame is their coach is Charlie Weis.
2:10PM - ESPN is airing a special episode of College Football Live. No Corso or Herbstreit in studio though.
1:53PM - As we approach the two o’clock hour things seem to be slowing down in the blogosphere. CSTV is about to kick start their second stint of recruiting coverage. I’ll be interested to see what they say about Shaw. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for news on Brandon Ware, as this would be a big loss for Penn State.
1:33PM - Um, ESPN really doesn’t know what they are talking about do they?
Florida? When did anybody mention Florida as a possibility for Pryor?
1:23PM - Well it is making news now; Shaw commits to Michigan. Reading the stories earlier today this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. It’s a shame for Shaw though because Sam McGuffie out of Texas is also going to Michigan. Enjoy the bench Shaw!
1:05PM - I am patiently awaiting the announcement regarding Shaw. Michigan seems to be dealing with bad news left and right today, but their class is still pretty good. Getting Shaw would ease some tensions in Wolverine country.
As for the Pryor press conference, I find myself suddenyla lot more optimistic about the prospects of him donning the nameless uniforms next year instead of the scarlet and gray. “Penn State”, “Paterno”, and “Bradley” were named a lot more often than anything relating to Michigan and Ohio State, although he did have nice things to say about both schools.
The delay is a family decision, and with his dad apparently wanting him to play at Penn State, who knows. Penn State suddenly now is a team to be reckoned with in the Pryor sweepstakes it seems. Pryor wants to make an official visit to PSU, as well as Oregon, now that his high school spots schedule is settling down between football and basketball.
Here is the ESPN article. [Link] Here is what he said about Penn State;
“I had my mind set last night that I was going to go … but Penn State is hitting me hard and I don’t think I gave them a fair chance and I want to take a visit there,” Pryor said. “Just check out their campus. Just give him [coach Joe Paterno] a chance, he’s a great guy. I just think I should go there.”
Penn State assistant Tom Bradley has been recruiting Pryor for months. “They’ve been hitting my father hard,” Pryor said. “They been to my dad’s house so many times. My dad’s in love with them. Tom Bradley probably knows the town more than he does.”
11:50AM - I am going to step away, use the bathroom, make a sandwich, grab a Coke, and watch Pryor’s press conference on CSTV and then make a phone call. Will return before 1pm.
11:41AM - A blurb from MLive [link] about Michael Shaw;
Man, Penn State cannot catch a break against Michigan in football. Shaw has been a solid Penn State verbal for some time now, but Michigan jumped in on him once Rodriguez took over and he’s been very, very quiet about his intentions lately. He will be another piece that could excel in the spread offense - he has good open-field ability and breakaway speed and adds another talented weapon to Michigan’s offense.
After some speculation, it seems the Scout site jumped the gun on announcing that Shaw had sent his LOI to Michigan. He will be holding his press conference at 1pm this afternoon to announce his decision. The fact that two of his teammates signed and are heading to Michigan doesn’t sit well.
11:13AM - DeOn’tae Pannell has sent in his LOI.
11:11AM - The Terrelle Pryor news conference is still on, but he will not necessarily announce his intentions. Media whore.
11:00AM - CSTV just finished up their one hour long special, the first of three they will show today. Towards the end they interviewed Mike DuMond who has set up a formula to predict where recruits will go to school. This model includes a number of criteria such as official visits, BCS conference or not, distance from home, NCAA violations, stadium capacity and so on (academics is NOT one of the factors).
When asked about Terrelle Pryor, who is really irking Michigan fans, DuMond predicts “slightly” Ohio State, but with the news of the delay, an official visit to Penn State would swing their model to predict Penn State. Very interesting stuff indeed.
The rest of the LOI’s that have been received thus far; Mark Wedderburn, D’Anton Lynn (happy about this), Jack Crawford, Michael Zordich, James Terry, Mike Yancich, A.J. Price, Matt Stankiewitch, Pete Massaro.
ESPNews just reported that Terrelle Pryor will NOT declare hiss intentions today.
We will see how he feels in an hour or so.
The report says he is still deciding between Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State and confirms that Oregon has been eliminated from the mix.
EDIT: I wrote this before getting a chance to read the feeds from some of the many quality blogs out there, including RUTS, regarding Pryor. So shame on me for missing this earlier. I have also read that Pryor will make an official visit to Penn State, now that he has pushed back his decision date. To me, this is great news for Penn State.
