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Jay Paterno Needs a Day Planner

By BSD

Rumor had it that Ohio running back Mike Shaw was scheduled to come to Penn State this weekend on an unofficial visit. The message board "insiders" said he was very high on Penn State and intended to commit to Joe Paterno during his visit. Even Shaw's family was going to come along for the special occasion. Then the disaster known as Jay Paterno struck. Dear Lord, can this be true?

Me and my dad were going to fly down to Penn State, but with Coach (Jay) Paterno, we never got it officially confirmed," said Shaw. "I called coach Paterno, and my dad sent coach Paterno some messages, and coach Paterno said that it would just be best for us come in July.

And about the rumors he was thinking of committing to Penn State this weekend? Here is what Shaw has to say.

Shaw has consistently put the Nittany Lions among his favorite schools, and there were some rumors that he was making the trip to State College to verbally pledge to play for Penn State. He said that committing wasn't a part of the plan, but he did not rule it out that it couldn't have happened.

"Anything is possible," said Shaw. "I definitely think that there was a possibility. Like I said, that's always been one of my favorite schools. If I was impressed enough, it would definitely have been a possibility."

Unbelievable. We have a four star recruit thinking about verballing to Penn State and we ask him to put it off a few weeks and pay for it out of his pocket. Fortunately by the sounds of the interview things have been smoothed over and Shaw isn't taking it personally, but perhaps it's time we review the list of things not to do when you are Jay Paterno trying to recruit a kid.

  1. Don't tell them you are going to make them lift weights and run on treadmills until they puke.
  2. Don't tell them Sports Medicine isn't a real major.
  3. Don't ask them for a copy of their high school playbook so you can "compare notes".
  4. Don't show them a copy of the Penn State offensive playbook.
  5. Don't tell them Joe mostly works from home these days but we still talk to him regularly over speaker phone.
  6. Don't tell them the prettiest girl in State College is probably only a 6 or 7 in California or Florida.
  7. Don't tell them cow tipping is a legitimate Saturday night activity in Happy Valley.
  8. Don't tell them Penn State apartment parties are "good clean fun".
  9. Don't tell them they probably won't beat Michigan during their four years at Penn State.
  10. Don't ask a family that has scheduled time off work and booked airplane tickets to change their arrangements last minute and eat the cost on their dime.
Try to keep these things in mind when you talk to these kids, Jay.


Jay Paterno - Recruiter Extraordinaire

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