And neither is this blog.  Yes, it has been a long time since the last post, but White Blue Demonstrated will return next week in full force.

After much deliberation I have decided to stick with this name, so if you don’t like it you’re out of luck I suppose.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first, Shaw we? Michael Shaw, the running back who verbally committed to Penn State previously, did the switch and decided to go to Michigan along with a pair of his high school teammates. Other than that there wasn’t a whole lot of bad news for Penn State when it came to recruitment headlines yesterday.

Yes, the Class of 2008 consists of only 14 players, which is the lowest in the Big Ten (Ohio State is next lowest with 19), but perhaps this isn’t devastating. Yes, many of the high caliber players targeted by Penn State decided to go elsewhere, notably Deion Walker who went to Notre Dame, but I think Penn State did OK with what they got. Recruitment for the Class of 2009 though will need to be a lot more active as there will be some serious depth issues to work on.

No true blue chippers will go State College home, but there are a number of legitimate four star recruits coming to Happy Valley. The line backing corp, while not as flashy as schools like Miami or Ohio State (but in reality, are they ever?) has the potential to continue the hard working and nationally under loved style that Penn State tends to have. Michael Zordich’s son, Michael Zordich Jr., and Michael Mauti hi lite this area of the defense. Mike Yancich should be no slouch either. All are four star recruits.

The offense picked up a couple players that should receive early playing time. Brandon Beachum, running back, is the guy who will benefit the most from Shaw’s decision to go to Michigan, where he will likely be seeing the bench more often than the field. Shaw would have been great to have, so only picking up Beachum as the only running back is a disappointment. Beachum doesn’t have the speed I’d like to see, but he does have the body to wear down defenses apparently. Luckily the offense should be anchored by Rodney Kinlaw next season so there is time to add depth in the backfield, which should be addressed in 2009.

Mark Wedderburn, tight end, will probably have some pressure put on him to start producing quickly. Penn State has not really had a sure tight end that could play consistently since Kyle Brady. Putting Wedderburn in Brady’s company would be premature, but if he can hold on to the ball more often than not I’ll be happy. He is 6′5″ and 235 pounds, so he has some size to him. There are some blocking concerns with him, but I expect that with freshmen.

Other positives come from the defensive side of the ball as well. D’Anton Lynn, safety, stayed true to his commitment to PSU, overcoming the temptation to stay closer to his Texas home at Texas Tech or Baylor as well as rejecting the notion that he was going to USC. This is considerably good news considering the weakness of the secondary and defensive backs last season for the Nittany Lions. One of his strengths is tackling, which is good news for anyone who remembers the Michigan State game. Some questions about his size are fair as he is 6′1″ and 177 pounds but overall it is great news that Penn State didn’t lose Lynn on signing day.

One name that may have slipped under the radar a little bit with all of the thoughts surrounding Pryor and the small number of recruits is Jack Crawford, a 6′6″ 250 pound defensive end out of St. Augustine Prep in New Jersey. His down side is his pass rushing skills as well as his technique, but have faith in coach Larry Johnson to work on those areas with Crawford. They say he could play some tight end if needed because he is a great athlete. I would rather Wedderburn step up and be the man on that side of the ball and have Johnson work this kid into being a quick defensive threat that can shut down the outside and make sure spread offenses and off tackle rushers are limited in what they can do.

Penn State’s other commitments are A.J. Price (wide receiver), Brandon Ware (defensive tackle), Mike Farrell (offensive tackle), Pete Massaro (defensive tackle), and James Terry (defensive tackle). Overall there is some good quality players in this class. I wonder though, like many PSU fans, how much the recruiting process is being hurt by the very limited on-the-road-action Joe Paterno is putting in. Make no mistake he is 100% committed to the program, but he definitely has not been on the road as much as some younger guys like Jim Tressel, Nick Saban or Urban Meyer. Heck, even Pittsburgh is bringing in a trio of five star recruits (Penn State has zero)!

The opinions on the class will easily change should Pryor end up settling on Penn State, and at this point I think it is fair to say he would be “settling” for Penn State, but as of now I will take this class as a whole with very limited and contained excitement. Nobody really looks like they are stud players but it is hard to complain about many of them. The Class of 2009 though MUST be stocked of talented players and Penn State will likely have to bring in at least 20 players to address some serious depth issues after next season. Having Pryor would help in that process, but if we have to play with Pat Devlin I am fine with that as well. So I guess there is one question left to be answered.

What now?

The Blue White game is the next big day to look forward to as we will get a chance to see the competition between Devlin and Daryll Clark, if you do in fact believe there is a competition for the coveted starting quarterback position. Other than that we, along with Ohio State fans, Michigan fans, and apparently Oregon fans, will have to wait for the decision of Pryor. Once Pryor names his school we can all gather our thoughts and focus on what we already have in preparations for 2008.

Oh yeah. It is never too late to start looking forward to the Class of 2009, right? Or 2010 if you really want.

I’m working on my recap of the Class of 2008 as it pertains to Penn State and it should be up shortly.  In the meantime, here are some related articles of note from around the internet.  As you might expect, a lot of buzz about Terrelle Pryor.

• [Lions are a serious player for Pryor] - Fight On State.  Old news at this moment but still interesting.
• [Pryor: I'd like to give everyone the same time] - BuckeyeXtra.  The Buckeye fans are getting annoyed, if not worried.
• [More players made de-commitments] - USA Today.  Blurb about Michael Shaw
• [Buckeyes get 19 signed; wonder about Pryor] - Sporting News
• [Pryor puts list at four] - Centre Daily Times
• [Football star [Pryor] keeps colleges guessing] - Pittsburgh Post Gazette.  To think they pretty much eliminated PSU for a long time too.
• [Top 25 Classes] - according to Sports Illustrated/Rivals.  Alabama wins.  Notre Dame second.  Penn State chimes in at 42.  Meh.  It could easily go up with Pryor.

Everyone else is doing it.

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.

This morning I posted about the Terrelle Pryor Sweepstakes, my concerns about D’Anton Lynn and brought up Corey Lewis, who had a verbal with Virginia but since started considering Penn State and Illinois.

There was a blurb about Lewis in The Morning Call that just came across my RSS reader.It’s not much but what else is there to write about at the moment? From The Morning Call [link];

In other news the Nittany Lions picked up a place kicker. David Soldner, out of Manheim Township. Soldner is a two star recruit, but I am unsure how many kickers receive a four star, or five star rating. Anyway, Soldner holds the Pennsylvania high school records for most career points as well as most career field goals.

I guess that is good news. It’s not exactly like we’re talking about Robbie Gould or Brett Conway, but I would rather see a state record holder than one who is not, right?

Stewart Mandel has a nice post today on Terrelle Pryor as well. After tomorrow we probably won’t be discussing him until Penn State plays Ohio State…or Michigan.  The Philadelphia Daily News is starting to think they know how to cover Penn State football as well.
[Pryor announcement to be most anticipated in history] - Stewart Mandel
[Penn State still hopes to land QB Pryor after other recruits bail] - Philadelphia Daily News
[National Signing Day] - Philadelphia Daily News

The alleged ring leader of an invasion and assault that involved numerous Penn State football players is apparently seeking a plea bargain instead of going to trial.  The reason he wants a deal?  He just wants to get on with his life.  That might not be a terrible idea because a trial would loom over not only Scirrotto but the entire football team possibly.  Why have this news loom over the football action for as long as it happens?

From the Centre Daily Times [link];

Both sides declined to discuss what Scirrotto may plead to or what his possible punishment could be. [Scirrotto's attorney, Ron] McGlaughlin said he is hopeful [Centre County District Attorney, Michael] Madeira will grant the student entry into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, which would allow Scirrotto to have his record cleared if he completes court-ordered programs, fines and probation.

Scirrotto’s plea is set to be submitted on February 14, Valentine’s Day.  On the other hand, Chris Baker’s trial is set to begin March 31.  Baker is one of the Nittany Lions being charged for, among other things, simple assault.   That tells me Scirrotto’s troubles will be behind him way before Baker continues to be in the news for the wrong reasons.

The nominees for the College Football Blog Awards have been announced and White Blue Demonstrated would like to extend its congratulations to all blogs receiving nominations.

Special recognition to Black Shoe Diaries, which is nominated for best Big Ten blog. Special recognition also goes to Temple Football Forever, nominated for Best Non BCS blog, which was one I personally voiced my opinions for.

Voting, I assume will start shortly after each blog announces the rest of the nominees.

Dan Connor, Justin King, and Anthony Morelli were all invited to participate in the NFL combine at the end of the month. Dan Connor probably doesn’t have much to prove and this should all be more of a formality for one of the top linebackers in the nation. Instead this could be just what King and Morelli need to improve their stock.

King is rumored to be a possible third round choice and could sneak into the second round. If scouts were watching his defensive play in the 2007 season though they will probably need to see some majorly impressive output at the combine. As for Morelli, he needs to have the combine of a lifetime to push himself up to the seventh round.

Morelli’s arm is still his biggest asset so a team may find it worth an invite to training camp to see if they can work with his awareness and decision making.

The combine will be televised heavilly by the NFL Network, as the end of February gives them little to show other than repeats of Super Bowl XLII.

[PSU Combine Invitations] - Fight On State
[NFL Scouting Combine] - Wikipedia
[Former Nittany Lions Alford and McKenzie Instrumental for Super Bowl XLII Winners] - Go PSU Sports

You decide. If you are in a state that participates in Super Tuesday, I encourage you to go vote for the candidate that suits you the best. If you don’t vote you lose your right to complain in the future if you ask me.

For many college football fans this is known as the nothing but one more day until National Signing Day, a day that a bunch of older fans drool and watch closely the actions of high school seniors as many will announce which campus will be called home this fall.

We all know the rush surrounding Terrelle Pryor. Ohio State appears to be the favorite, but Michigan also sounds like a close second. Penn State is also mentioned but nobody feels it is a strong candidate for Pryor. What’s wrong with this kid, right?

As reported yesterday Pryor is now 80-90% sure he will announce on signing day and in doing so has scratched Oregon off of the list of possibilities. I felt the news that he may push back his announcement was so he could grab all the attention to himself, rater than sharing the spotlight with another highly touted prospect. Of course, with ESPN and CSTV scheduled to carry Pryor’s announcement I doubt that Pryor wanted to miss out on that unique opportunity. It is likely he would lose CSTV if he pushed it back. This is good news for me because I get CSTV with my cable package, but not ESPN U. I wouldn’t be suprised if ESPNews picks it up though either.

I’m sticking with the idea that Pryor will go to Ohio State. He seems to be a natural fit there.

As for Penn State, national signing day will be pretty drab. The one recruit I am keeping an eye on is D’Anton Lynn who has been sending out mixed signals. One moment he is commited to Penn State, the next he may be interested in Texas Tech, the next he commits to USC, then finally he says he is committed to Penn State. Losing Lynn this late would be a punch in the gut. But other than Lynn I don’t know what drama will surround Penn State, unless Pryor decides to goof everybody and put on a Nittany Lion hat at his announcement.

As long as no recruit starts to put on a Penn State hat and then fake everyone out and put on a Florida State hat I guess I’ll be happy. Elsewhere the recruiting buzz is very low for Penn State.

Corey Lewis, a 6′7″ 290 pound offensive tackle from East Stroudsburg is another name to look for. He had previously verbally committed to Virginia, but Illinois an Penn State had come into the picture afterward. From the Pocono Record [link];

I like what brief info I got about Lewis in this article. Take a look at the last quote from the same article;

Notice that Lewis mentions academics first and football second, and even mentions graduation rate. He sounds like a Paterno type of player, doesn’t he?

I am sure just about every blog of note out there will tell you where Terrelle Pryor is going to school this fall, but I will too. Just so you know. Tomorrow will definitely be a big day on the blogosphere, at least in Big Ten country, so I hope you stay tuned.

[Signing Day might not be signature day] - BuckeyeXtra
[Déjà Vu - Part I][DéjàVu - Part Two] - Superprep.com
[Michigan's immediate future could hinge on Pryor] - ESPN

One last post today and it comes from Terrele Pryor. From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette [link];

Pryor said he will decide among Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, although Ohio State and Michigan have been the leaders all along.

Oh the drama that is Terrele Pryor. The other news from this story is that Oregon is officially out of the mix for third place.

Countdown to TP-Day: 2 days.  His press conference will be televised on ESPN U and CSTV.  I have CSTV so score one for me.