Wedderburn Part Two

by BSD on Nov 27, 2007 9:11 AM EST in Recruiting

The college and high school football seasons are winding down, and that means recruiting is picking back up. And Sunday night Penn State took another step in filling out this years class when Cardinal O'Hare tight end Mark Wedderburn committed to the Nittany Lions over offers from Rutgers, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, and Louisville among others.

Mark's older brother Floyd played for Joe Paterno back in the 1990's. After a successful career as an offensive tackle Floyd was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks where he played three seasons. Although Mark played out the recruiting process for a long time, there was never really any doubt where he was going to go to school.

"Penn State caught my heart," Wedderburn said. "When Floyd was playing up there, I loved everything about the program. It was a real-deal kind of family.

"I was still young [8 years old when Floyd was a senior], but I have a whole lot of memories. From watching the games and being around the players to going to JoePa's house and eating his wife's chocolate chip cookies. They were the best.

"When coach Vanderlinden came to my house, I knew. I just knew. All the other schools had good people, good programs. I just said, 'The heck with this. Time to end [the recruiting process].' I knew Penn State was it for me."

Wedderburn canceled visits to Rutgers, Tennessee, Florida and Louisville.

"I wanted to stay close to home for my family's sake," he said. "No need for hopping on a plane to Tennessee, Florida . . . I remember how much family fun we had on those trips to Penn State."

I projected one tight end commitment in this class, and Mark is it. I think Joe knew Mark would end up at Penn State because we never really recruited another tight end. A few years ago we were depleted at tight end. Now we have an impressive stable that includes Andrew Quarless, Mickey Shuler, Andrew Szczerba, possibly Jon Ditto, and now Wedderburn.

The 6'5" 235 tight end has had an impressive senior season leading his team to the Catholic Red semi-finals with 26 catches for 386 yards and a touchdown. Mark also lines up at defensive end and plays on his high school basketball team. He's rated as a three star prospect by both of the recruiting services.

Welcome, uh, back to the family, Mark.

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Good news to start the day!

Angelo

by nittanyroar on Nov 27, 2007 10:23 AM EST reply actions

It's nice

to see a local athlete staying home. If people only did this alot more in sports, some of the teams on eastern pa wouldn't be a laughing stock(Temple) lol.

WE ARE, PENN STATE!

by LinebackerU on Nov 27, 2007 2:02 PM EST reply actions