Penn State Lands Number Three

by Mike on Apr 30, 2008 3:02 PM EDT in Recruiting

The class of 2009 is starting to fill out for Penn State. Today we partially filled a position of major need when St. Joseph's Prep offensive tackle Mark Arcidiacono announced he's going to Penn State.

The decision is made: Mark Arcidiacono will attend Penn State.

Arcidiacono, a 6-5, 290-pound junior tackle at St. Joseph's Prep, held a press conference early this afternoon and said he'd attend Penn State. His other choice was Florida.

Remember a few years ago when half the team had the last name Johnson? Now I have to learn how to spell names like Stankiewitch and Wisniewski. Arcidiancono is going to take me a while. I'll have to print out a copy of the Penn State roster and keep it handy.

Achiden...

Archedan...

Ugh, the 6-5 290 lb tackle fills a major need for Penn State. With Cadogen gone after this year and Landolt gone after 2009 it's not certain who on the depth chart is going to fill in. Arcidiancono (Yes!) has an excellent chance to play early if not right away. He passed on other offers from over 20 schools including Florida, Notre Dame, and Rutgers.

This morning his high school coach gave some insight into why the Nittany Lions were his choice.

Arcidiacono, a 6-foot-4, 289-pound tackle, will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. at the Prep, and the Nittany Lions and Florida are the finalists. Even though the Gators were making a last-gasp attempt, Prep coach Gil Brooks was predicting that Penn State would be the winner.

"I believe that there are two factors," Brooks said yesterday. Arcidiacono has "had a life-long affinity for Penn State and he comes from a big family, and I think he'd like to remain closer to home."

Given Joe Paterno's uncertain future this is what I expected. The only top notch recruits we'll get are the ones that grew up with Ki-Jana Carter posters on their walls. Maybe Arcidianoco had Jeff Hartings posters. Who knows.

Anyway, I'm not complaining about this one. Big kid with an impressive offer list in a position of major need. Nice work Penn State and welcome to the family, Mark. Now can we get a quarterback and maybe a wide receiver or two?

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Comments

Coaching Uncertainty

Michigan did alright with recruiting despite the rumors surrounding Lloyd Carr's departure for the last couple of years. Even with JoePa's uncertainty.....PSU will do well in recruiting because of the progaram's history, facilities, and lack of depth at wideout and DB. Additionally our recruiting success is going to depend a lot on the team's success during the season. Everyone loves to play for a winner....so let's hope the Lions represent in 08.

I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?

by pic15 on Apr 30, 2008 3:40 PM EDT 0 recs

Great to hear

It's been a nice week for recruiting. Hey Mike, what happened to the neat little hockey goal light that used to adorn these posts? I always knew it was going to be good news when I saw that light.

Angelo

by nittanyroar on Apr 30, 2008 3:52 PM EDT 0 recs

Here ya go

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Apr 30, 2008 4:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

Oooooo Ahhhhh

I like flashing lights. Thanks

Angelo

by nittanyroar on Apr 30, 2008 4:20 PM EDT 0 recs

To get a little creepy....

6'4"-6'5" and 290?!?!? That is beastly huge. A year or two at the training table and in a strength program geared towards gaining mass this kid will be 345. Awesome. Creepy, but awesome.

GO STATE!

by GLORYOFOLDSTATE on Apr 30, 2008 5:11 PM EDT 0 recs

ahhhhhh

SJP. The school that brought you Rich Gannon!

by psudrozz on Apr 30, 2008 5:56 PM EDT 0 recs

great, three times one

Great. Another 1 star according to scout. I guess at least I can find him in a recruiting database. JB, you seriously think the PSU strength program is gonna do him any good. I think we found out that answer on Sunday. Until Jay/Joe are gone, I'm not expecting much else.

Sick of mediocrity

by chitownpsu on Apr 30, 2008 7:27 PM EDT 0 recs

Knowledge

Do you realize that one star simply means he hasn't been rated yet? Does the fact that he has a ND and a Florida offer mean anything to you? Quit star gazing and look at the whole picture. Only 300 kids have been evaluated so far, and the next set of rankings come out tomorrow.

JoePa is my hero.

by psuphiman80 on Apr 30, 2008 7:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

One star

The scout and rivals websites do explain (somewhere) that a one or no star means he hasn't been evaluated by the recruiting service yet. However, I'm sure we've all read the stories about players who were rated low and were great college players, and vice versa. I think it shows alot about the kid when you see what other big programs were after him. This guy appears to be the real deal.

by NJ lion on Apr 30, 2008 7:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ratings....

Ratings can be very misleading....I remember a certain interception-throwing, football fumbling QB in the very recent past that was rated the #2 QB in the country when he left high school. And we all saw how that turned out.
Interesting aside - this is from Morelli's wikipedia description:
"Morelli revealed that he has not spoken with high school coach Neil Gordon since his final game in 2003. He accused Gordon and his staff of sabotaging his college recruitment, spreading rumors about his intelligence and his ability to read defenses."
Seems like these 'rumors' were pretty accurate. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck...

I bleed Blue and White.

by Horse N Buggy on May 1, 2008 10:58 AM EDT up 0 recs

Ratings

I think it is more important to look at the teams that recruit a guy than to look at the number of stars. Usually these are in line as the OSU's, USC's and Florida's of the world are recruiting the 4 and 5 star guys.

Pat Devlin in '08

by Nick7 on Apr 30, 2008 7:49 PM EDT 0 recs

Offer Lists

Even there you have to be careful. Certain parts of the country are more heavily recruited than others. Areas like Texas, Florida, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania are high school football hotbeds. Bigtime programs recruit those areas more heavily because the competition is better and they can contact more players in less time. Other areas like suburban Philadelphia, Delaware, and New England don't get as heavily recruited, so players from those areas don't tend to get offer lists that blow you away.

The bottom line is you never know how a kid will pan out. The programs that succeed over long periods of time are the ones that excell at developing talent as well as identifying it.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Apr 30, 2008 8:02 PM EDT up 0 recs