Alright, let’s wrap this up and go over the safety situation and then we’ll look at the targets for 2009. First a look at the 2008 roster.
| Position | First String | Second String | Third String |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hero Back | Anthony Scirrotto - Sr | Nick Sukay - rFr | Cedric Jefferies - So |
| Free Safety | Tony Davis - Sr | Mark Rubin - Sr | Chaz Powell - rFr |
You can see we’re going to take a big hit after this season. In 2009 we’ll most likely be starting a couple of redshirt sophomores in the backfield. I have confidence that Sukay and Powell will be pretty good with time, but we didn’t take any safeties in the last class so we’re not going to have much depth in 2009 unless we bring in a few kids this year. I think Penn State really needs to bring in at least two, preferably three safeties in this class. Here are the targets we’re looking at.
| Name | Hometown | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Corey Addison | Jacksonville, FL | 5-11, 185, 4.5 |
| Telvion Clark | Norfolk, VA | 6-2, 180 |
| Stephon Gilmore | Rock Hill, SC | 6-0, 176, 4.5 |
| Corey Lillard | Bealeton, VA | 5-11, 195 |
| Nyshier Oliver | Jersey City, NJ | 5-11, 170, 4.4 |
| Malcolm Willis | Indian Head, MD | 6-1, 185, 4.65 |
Realistically the kids from Florida and South Carolina are probably too far out of our natural recruiting area. But we’ll see what happens. We have a good situation where potential recruits looking at our depth chart should see an opportunity to come in and compete for playing time right away.
| Position | Projected Scholarships |
|---|---|
| Quarterbacks | 2 |
| Running Backs | 2 |
| Wide Receivers | 3 |
| Guards/Centers | 2 |
| Offensive Tackles | 3 |
| Tight Ends | 1 |
| Defensive Tackles | 2 |
| Defensive Ends | 2 |
| Linebackers | 2 |
| Cornerbacks | 3 |
| Safeties | 3 |
| Total | 25 |
Now that that’s over I can get to work on the 2009 recruiting chart. I’m going to tweak it a bit from last year mostly to make it easier for me to update. Once the season starts it’s too hard to link to articles individually, so I’ll probably lean toward just providing you with the tools to google stalk these kids on your own. So give me a week or so to put it together. Any suggestions for the recruiting board are greatly appreciated. Let me know what kind of information you’re interested in seeing.