Gimme an lineman and a siren Wooooo!
No shocker here as Nate Cadogan gave his verbal pledge to play college football for Joe Paterno earlier this afternoon. Cadogan plays both ways on the defensive and offensive lines for his high school in Portsmouth, OH. It's not clear to me at this point if the Penn State coaches plan to play him on offense or defense. I have a suspicion they may wait to see how the rest of this class pans out before making that decision. But at 6'6" and 250 lbs he has the size to play either defensive tackle or offensive tackle after a couple years in the weight room and training table.
Cadogan is rated as a three star prospect by both recruiting services if you're into that kind of thing. He turned down other offers from Purdue, Syracuse, Cincinnati, and a host of MAC schools. But it's been pretty much a foregone conclusion he would pick Penn State if the Nittany Lions came through with an offer because of his familiarity with the program through his older brother, Gerald. He also saw a lot of interest from Ohio State before the Buckeyes filled out their recruiting class.
As I said, this may or may not end our offensive line recruiting. I think the coaches are looking at a few more targets on both sides of the ball. Cadogan possesses the size and agility to play either way, so Joe may wait to see how the rest of the class pans out. This doesn't mean the door is closed for anyone at this point.
Even though I have suspected this for months already, welcome to Penn State, Nate. It's good to make it official.