You know, it's almost not fair. If Larry Johnson is a fisherman, then Maryland is his barrell. Today LJSR pulled in the Nittany Lions' fifth verbal from the Old Line State when Gaithersburg, Maryland defensive end Sean Stanley committed to Joe Paterno.

Stanley is simply a beast. I watched the video on the 6'2" 255 lb defensive lineman and came away thoroughly impressed. On play after play he exploded off the line and tossed his opponent aside inevitably getting to the quarterback or the running back or whatever unlucky sap happened to get the ball. It was one of more impressive highlight tapes of a defensive lineman I've seen in a long time. He's a keeper.

Stanley was a first team All-Met selection by the Washington Post last season after collecting 70 tackles, 37 TFL, 16.5 sacks, and forcing 9 fumbles. That's a stat line that makes my jaw drop. Rivals ranks him a four star prospect and the #11 defensive end in the country. Scout also ranks him a four star prospect and the #19 defensive end in the country. Stanley passed on other offers from Maryland, Miami, Georgia, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Pitt, and Illinois. Oh yeah, someone should probably let Tom Luicci know he also had an offer from Rutgers. We're so fortunate that the great Schiano let us have some sloppy seconds.

This recruiting class, which was looking like a complete disaster a month ago, is now coming along pretty nicely. Our defense is going to be loaded in 2011 and 2012 with these last two recruiting classes. Maryland has been really good to us, and with players like Tavon Austin, Jelani Jenkins, Brandon Felder, and Travis Hawkins still on the board Larry Johnson may not be done yet. Welcome to the Penn State family, Sean.

We Are!

Update: Just found out we landed our 11th commitment. Also from the state of Maryland. More to follow soon.