Moving along with 2009 recruiting we’ll take a look at the offensive line today. First a look at the projected 2008 depth chart.
Position | First String | Second String | Third String |
---|---|---|---|
Left Tackle | Gerald Cadogen - Sr | Nerraw McCormack - Sr | Jonnie Troutman - rFr |
Left Guard | Rich Ohrnberger - Sr | Lou Eliades - So | J.B. Walton – rFr |
Center | A.Q. Shipley - Sr | Matt Stankiewitch - Fr | |
Right Guard | Mike Lucian - Sr | Stefen Wisniewski - So | Josh Marks – rFr |
Right Tackle | Dennis Landolt - Jr | Ako Poti - Sr | Quinn Barham – rFr |
Not included on the list are incoming freshmen Deon’tae Pannell and Mike Farrell who are both projected to redshirt and eventually line up at tackle. Also missing from the list is redshirt sophomore Doug Klopacz who I didn’t know where to place on the depth chart.
You can see we should have a very experienced offensive line in 2008 with four seniors and a junior. That’s great for 2008. Not so great for 2009. But we’re not really focused on replacing these guys with this class. Most offensive linemen take two or three years to develop on the college level, so we better have their replacements already on the team. Fortunately I think Lou Eliades, Matt Stankeiwitch, Josh Marks, and Stefen Wisniewski will make a fantastic core group of guards and centers to build around. Who is going to play on the outside of them is another question. Landolt has two years left, so we’ll be ok there in 2009. But Cadogen and McCormack run out of eligibility after 2008 unless the coaches redshirt the JUCO transfer McCormack, which has been kicked around a bit.
They say in recruiting you always look two years ahead, and in two years it’s pretty obvious to me we’re going to need offensive tackles. So that’s what we need to focus on in this class. But then I’m always of the opinion you need to add offensive linemen every year. So with a full class of 25 I’m going to project Penn State takes at least three tackles and two guard/center prospects. Here are some of the targets seeing early attention.
So with that here is the projected scholarship allocation so far.
Projected 2009 Scholarship AllocationName | Hometown | Size |
---|---|---|
Ty Howle | Bunn, NC | 6-2, 290 |
Xavier Nixon | Fayetteville, NC | 6-6, 275 |
Eric Shrive | Scranton, PA | 6-7, 285 |
Brennan Williams | West Roxbury, MA | 6-5, 265 |
Sean Conway | Nashville, TN | 6-3, 285 |
Marcus Hall | Cleveland, OH | 6-5, 294 |
Anthony LaLota | Princeton, NJ | 6-6, 260 |
Raynard Randolph | Brandywine, MD | 6-3, 295 |
Position | Projected Scholarships | |
Quarterbacks | 2 | |
Running Backs | 2 | |
Wide Receivers | 3 | |
Guards/Centers | 2 | |
Offensive Tackles | 3 | |
Total | 12 |