Give me an Arizona offensive lineman and a siren WHOOOOOO
Despite all of the turbulence and uncertainty around the Penn State football program these days, the one-time disaster of a recruiting class is actually starting to come together quite nicely. And tonight the Nittany Lions got a big piece of the puzzle when Arizona offensive lineman Ryan Nowicki verbally committed to play for Penn State.
"I committed to Penn State yesterday," said Glendale (Az.) Cactus offensive lineman Ryan Nowicki said on Wednesday evening. "Coach Kenney was here, I was talking to him. We brought it up and I told him that I was going to go there to school. I got on the phone with [Joe] Paterno and talked to him and he was excited about it."
Nowicki stands 6'5" and weighs 280 lbs. Most people project him to play tackle in college, but they say he could easily slide inside and play guard. Rivals and Scout each rank him a three star prospect. Rivals considers him the #36 ranked offensive lineman in the nation, while Scout ranks him #83.
While some people may go meh over a three star prospect, they should perk up when they hear his offer list of over 20 schools. Basically every school in the PAC 10 offered him, including USC. He also had offers from Boise State, Illinois, Syracuse, and Utah among others. Nowicki visted USC, Washington, and Penn State before making his decision.
Nowicki is the tenth verbal commitment for the class of 2011. Most experts project this class to finish with 17-18 kids, so if this holds true we're in for a wild month. Defensive back and defensive line are the big needs still on the board. A linebacker or running back wouldn't be a bad pickup. And, oh yeah, if they could pull a major coup and land a big quarterback that would be okay too.
But tonight belongs to Ryan Nowicki, so give him a big welcome.