But I wonder about the effor/reward ratio. Do we want Buggs and the coaches spending a ton of time on the West Coast for kids that have to be considered a longshot at best? USC will find the five star kids, and the ones they don’t have room for would probably rank PSU behind the Big XII and SEC schools. So is it worth all the time wasted on kids we have little shot with?

Just seems like with all the talent in our own backyard I’m not sure it’s worth the time and effort. We should be focusing on carving into Ohio and locking down everything north of the Mason-Dixon line in my opinion. There is plenty of talent here to compete with anyone in the country.

“When people say they’re clean, it’s true.”

We all believe that but it’s nice to have confirmation from an informed third party.

WE ARE!!!

If a kid is interested in PSU, they should definitely expend the effort to bring him over, but I wouldn’t put too much effort into it. Why on Earth would you want to compete with the Pac-10 and Mountain West Conference when you have such talent from the Carolinas to Massachusetts? Resources aren’t unlimited.

worry about getting recruits from Pittsburgh and not San Diego. Lock down our backyard and then worry about long shot Cali kids. When was the last time we had a recruit from Cali (and don’t say Lydell Sargent because he was from PA and then moved out there)

Losing our Western PA kids to tOSU and Pitt hurts more then not getting a kid like Taint Forcier. Lock down Western PA, win Big 10 titles

that should be our home base. Yes, if we need a WR or RB or something, venture out, but don’t waste too much energy.

National Recruiting (cherry picking the top 5 recruits from each state) is something even Ohio State struggles to do. Florida, Texas, USC — the only programs that have the luxury of doing this.

Stop frickin losing 5-star kids to Ohio State and Pitt. Just win those battles, and recruiting will not be a problem. The pipeline has to start in state first.

If you can get a kid interested with minimal effort, do it. These guys like Glasson seem committed to getting these players D-1 scholarships anywhere, but seem especially positive about getting a Penn State connection going. So if we can make a few calls to California, talk to some of these players, and get their attention, that’s great.

The key is getting these kids to actually visit the PSU campus. None of this is worth a crap if you can’t get them on campus for a visit. So if PSU picks out a few intriguing and intrigued kids from that San Diego area, there’s no harm in sending Buggs out there for a quick swing through the region to talk to players and coaches. However, after that point, Buggs can’t be wasting his time if the kids aren’t going to use an official visit on Penn State.

It’s interesting, if nothing else. It doesn’t represent a new strategy or anything — just a little extra bit to keep your eyes on.

Isn’t the poster on FOS sg-something? Is that Glasson?

The other big thing is the reputation of a school developing first round and Pro-Bowl talent. Every kid that’s recruiting thinks they’ll be a first rounder. U$C, O$U, and UF have that reputation and then some. I think some kids think PSU as old school, which they consider to be unsuitable for NFL development.

ok………let’s forget Florida, USC, and Texas………let’s just focus on Ohio State and Michigan………since 2006 Ohio State has signed 19 kids from the “hot bed states” of Florida, Texas, California and Georgia. Michigan has signed 26. Penn State has signed 3. A JUCO lineman, a kicker, and somebody who is here because of a Coach who is no longer on the staff.

This won’t be popular, but this let’s stay local mentality sounds like the same logic that has Pennsylvania with an older population than every state in the country besides Florida. The same mentality that turns manufacturing away because of old guard ideologies.

All year long we hear people on this board complaining about same old offense (with the exception of this year) and same old defense, but then blink when we start maybe looking to recruit where our main competition in the league is recruiting heavily.

I’m proud to have been born and raised in PA for a lot of reasons, but clinging on to the past and the way things used to work like grim death isn’t one of them.

If we COULD “lock up” PA I am sure we would have been doing it. But at the end of the day, there just aren’t that many big time skill position guys coming out of PA anymore.

When we don’t get kids from the talent rich states, our coaches are terrible because they don’t recruit outside of a 200 mile radius.

When we do try to make inroads, our coaches are dumb for not locking up PA & NJ’s top talent.

Right.

in movie theaters in Orange County, CA since January. Makes sense now.

STL and Tailgate Shogun will be in NYC for the Bball game on Tuesday night.

Would love to pound a few brews and chat PSU FB. Will have my white Zug shirt on.

Speaking of recruiting, we should just let Zug pick and choose our recruits, if they meet his standards, OK by me.

Like someone above me kind of said, you can almost tell if a kid is PSU or not PSU. Regardless of what is happening in the rest of the country, and despite our recent lawlessness on the team, we still have a certain mystique. It takes a certain type of kid to play for PSU, and they are not always 5* guys, save for a few. Urban Meyer and Petey Carroll can use any fast athletic kid make him a star, and they win, they do it well, they are great coaches. We need a certain kind of kid, I don’t mean just academically, but there is a certain family-ish type feel here that no one can nail down or describe perfectly, but we all know what it is and what it feels like, it jsut feels……right. Not every one we get ends up being perfect for us, but the staff does mostly a good job of finding kids right for PSU and that PSU is right for, It is important to note that most of the kids we draw WANT to be here, they want it for the right reasons, not just as a stepping stone for the NFL or so they can be all over espn. Kids like Derrick Williams and Paul Pos (among others of course) come to PSU because they see a deeper meaning in it, and they know later in life, they can proudly say “I played for Penn State and Joe Paterno.” They feel good about it and know the respect they get for it. They know years from now, even if they were not a star, they will be welcomed in Happy Valley like they won 3 heismans, more improtanly they will be welcomed as family.

So I say find the RIGHT kids. Wherever they are, they will mostly be in PA, NJ, MD and the NE, but if one happens to be in Idaho, or Hawaii, or California, get him. Its not like PSU can not afford 2 or 4 trips a year to the west coast.