Preliminaries

Penn State’s 2010 recruiting class is not complete.  That can be said about other schools as well.  There will be additions and possibly subtractions between now and letter of intent day.  No, we don’t know anything about subtractions, but it occasionally happens. 

It is also important to note that the prospects in the 2010 recruiting class have not played a single down of college football.  Recruiting is an educated crapshoot.  We need to wait until we see them play on the field.

Analysis

Khairi Fortt’s verbal commitment to Penn State moved the class of 2010 to number two in nation according to Scout.com.    Rivals has Penn State at number five in the nation.  The differences between Scout and Rivals are not all that significant.  Essentially, teams are ranked similarly, but in different order.  It’s not a science.  We’ll stick with Scout in our analysis to keep things simple.

Penn State has highest quality class in the nation.  This is calculated by the average “star” rating.  It is currently at 3.95.  One more five star recruit sets the rating at an even 4.00.  Second in the nation is USC at 3.93.  USC is ranked 12th overall (based on points) due to only having 14 recruits in their class. 

Penn State has the clear lead in the Big Ten in points and average “star” rating.  Ohio State comes in second in average “star” rating with 3.69. Michigan is second based on points, but 5th based on average “star” rating with 3.21.

The number of spots remaining in Penn State’s 2010 recruiting class is variable.  The best guesses by “experts” have two to three more spots left in the class.  That is fewer spots than actual offers.

The two remaining prize recruits are RB Marcus Lattimore and DT Sharrif Floyd.  Both are 5-star recruits, Top-5 for their positions in the country. Penn State isn’t hurting at RB at the moment, and has a huge stable of RBs, including last year’s recruit, Curtis Dukes.  Dukes will probably redshirt this year; he has yet to play in a game.  Zach Zwinak is the nation’s number one fullback and part of the 2010 class.  Lattimore would be icing on the cake and a really good fit for Penn State.

Lattimore final list changes slightly from month to month.  Most recently, he has UNC back on his list.  The other top five choices for Lattimore are Oregon, PSU, FSU, Auburn, and South Carolina.  Oregon seems to be this year’s darling on prospect’s favorites list.  However, Oregon has the 61st ranked recruiting class with only seven commits.  It seems that Oregon can’t close the deal.

FSU is also having difficulty recruiting.  They are currently ranked 4th in the ACC, and 29th in the nation.  They have verbal commitments from two 4-stars, and ten 3-stars.  Compare that to Penn State’s two 5-five stars, and 14 4-stars.  That is a world of difference.  Lattimore’s other ACC team of interest is UNC; ranked 9th in the ACC and 45th nationally.

Auburn and South Carolina are in the middle of SEC recruiting classes at six and seven respectively.  Nationally they are 24th and 26th.  Both schools have four 4-star recruits as their best. 

Penn State looks excellent compared to Lattimore’s other favorites. FSU and Oregon haven’t landed any stud offensive linemen.  Auburn has a 3-star tackle, and 2-star guard.  UNC has a 5-star tackle and 4-star guard.  USCe had 4-star guard, a 2-, 3-, and 4-star tackle, and a 4-star center.   Penn State has 3-star guard, Luke Graham; 4-star center, Miles Dieffenbach; 4-star tackle, Tom Ricketts; and 4-star guard, DaQuan Jones (who is being recruited as a DT).   If Lattimore was making his choice based on offensive linemen opening holes for him, Penn State and USCe are the two schools in competition.

Besides Lattimore, the only other RB on the radar is Storm Johnson.  Johnson is a 3-star RB from Georgia. (Rivals has him as 4-star.)  Penn State won’t take two more running backs, considering they already have Zach Zwinak and Si Redd in the class. 

The other big recruit prize being sought by Penn State is 5-star DT Sharrif Floyd from Philadelphia.   Floyd will be visiting Penn State on October 16.  He has had visits for Florida, Southern Cal, and USCe.  Also on the radar for Floyd is UNC, and tOSU.  There are conflicting reports about whether Floyd has interest in Michigan.

Penn State is very strong on the defensive line in this class with verbal commits from DE Kyle Baublitz, DE/OLB Dakota Royer, DE C.J. Olaniyan, DT Evan Hailes, DE Dominique Easley, and DT DaQuan Jones.  All are 4-star recruits. 

DT Michael Thornton is a 4-star prospect from Georgia.  It is possible that Penn State gets both Floyd and Thornton, which means that someone in this class may move to the offensive line.  DaQuan Jones is a likely candidate for that position.  Some would say that Thornton is a backup plan to Floyd, however Thornton in his own right is an incredible defensive tackle.  He is ranked 11th in the country, which is very similar to DaQuan Jones (10th) and Evan Hailes (8th). 

The other position that Penn State may have a spot in the 2010 class is at offensive tackle.  Penn State has given offers to Robby Havenstein (6-8/348), Khamrone Kolb (6-6/300), and JUCO James Carmon (6-7/370).  Havenstein and Kolb have shown the most interest in Penn State.  Carmon has been rather quiet about his recruitment.  In the end, Penn State will probably take only one OT, and as described previously, getting both Floyd and Thornton would probably move DaQuan Jones to the offensive line.

Ideal Final Recruits

The ideal final recruits would be Lattimore, Floyd and Thornton.  The addition of Floyd and Thornton will balance things out between the offense and defense, as Penn State has recruited a few more offensive players this year.  That in no way means that Penn State is weak on offense or defense.  Penn State stands to have the best offensive backfield class in the nation, with two Top-10 QBs, three Top-15 running backs, a Top-10 wide receiver, and a Top-5 TE.  The offensive line across the board is loaded with 4-star talent, less Luke Graham, a 3-star commit, but ranked 11th in the nation. (It is possible that a 4th star can be added.)

On defense, Penn State would end up having a super strong defensive line and linebacker class.  Penn State hasn't been recruiting defensive secondary positions this year due to the high number of backs in the 2009 class. Every d-linemen and LB stands to be a 4-star or better recruit.  

The Under-Appreciated

It seems that whenever Penn State recruiting is written about there are a couple in the members of the class that are under-appreciated.  Considering Nittany Lounge regularly writes about recruiting, it happens here as well.  Penn State has verbal commits from Levi Norwood (Jordan's brother) and Alex Kenney.  Both are 3-star recruits.  In the grand scheme of things, most teams would love to have two 3-star recruits.  It just happens that Norwood and Kenney along with aforemetioned Luke Graham are sitting at the bottom of Penn State's 2010 class.  (That's recruiting services evaluation, not Nittany Lounge). 

Penn State knows what they are doing with Norwood and Kenney.  Norwood grew up in State College since his father, Brian, was the former safeties coach for Penn State.  We all know how good his brother Jordan was.   The word is that Levi is better than Jordan, but has been off the recruiting services radar since he missed playing last year and he committed to Penn State early. 

Alex Kenney the other known quantity to Penn State coaches since he, like Norwood, grew up in State College.  He has incredible speed (4.37 40) and has been buring Mid Penn football teams apart in his senior year with the Little Lions.

Only time will tell if any of the recruits in the 2010 class will make a major impact on the field.  Remember, stars are not everything: Sean Lee was a 3-star recruit.