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Yes, this was originally up on Monday...but then retracted. And now confirmed by Rivals and 247 (and Raymond's coach), so, better two days later than never, right, guys?
Donte Raymond, ladies and gentlemen!
Stats:
Home/HS: Rahway, NJ/Rahway
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 205 lbs
Starz 'n Sheetz:
Stars: none
Offer Sheet: Delaware (had committed November 7, 2013)
Cinema:
I couldn't find anything embeddable, but check out his Hudl profile (complete with senior and junior year highlights) here.
The Tale:
On the heels of yesterday's excellent news of Holley comes today's news of Raymond (originally broken on Monday, but quickly retracted by none other than Raymond himself).
Bill O'Brien has been actively on the recruiting trail since the end of the season, to great effect. Raymond camped at Penn State over the summer, but this news is so new that he isn't even listed as having an offer yet--let alone having committed. Raymond had committed to the FCS Delaware Blue Hens (he's the reverse Pat Devlin, if you will) early last month before picking up the PSU offer.
Raymond committed side-by-side with preferred walk-on TE Jacob August, a high school teammate of QB Christian Hackenberg who also pulled the trigger today.
Outlook:
Cue some message board meltdowns (lessened, of course, as this comes after news of a high-profile commit).
With no other offers of note, BOB and co obviously saw something they liked from Raymond--and the feeling was mutual. Linebacker is clearly a position of need for this recruiting class, and though Raymond makes only the second official LB, he'll likely be the third in the class (with Jason Cabinda projected to play at that position). Look for Raymond's stock to rise sharply once word of his offer and commitment spreads; often, players' lack of any stars has more to do with lack of exposure than talent or projected performance at the next level.
Raymond is currently on the small side, with most sites' stats looking to be somewhat generous. Look for him to take a redshirt in 2014 as he bulks up with Coach Fitz and starts to see significant time in 2015.
Welcome to Penn State, Donte!
