Catching Up with 2015 OT Emanuel McGirt

Four star offensive tackle Emanuel McGirt (Durham, NC) earned his Penn State offer on the first of October. Since then, the Nittany Lions have been a hot topic when discussing the young man out of North Carolina. McGirt was originally committed to the Tar Heels, but decommitted on the second day of August. There were reports that Emanuel was interested in Penn State, but it was widely assumed that nothing would change in his opinion of the school until he got on campus. Well, Emanuel was lucky enough to visit for the OT loss to Ohio State this past weekend. He shared his thoughts about the game, Penn State, and his other top contenders, when I spoke with him a few days ago.

How was the game this past weekend?

It was real live, I liked it a lot. It was good to see some fans in the stadium, so it was real nice.

Did you have a favorite part of the visit?

It was cool hanging out with all of the commits at the game. I actually rode up with Brandon Polk, so I got to hang out with him. I actually knew him prior to the visit, so it was good to hang out with him.

How would you characterize your interest in Penn State right now?

It's about medium to hot. They're right there, and I'm most likely going to take an official, so I'm definitely interested.

What is it about Penn State that draws you there?

I just like it, it has great tradition or producing good offensive linemen, Coach Hand's a good coach, I know Coach Gattis is from Durham. I just have a lot of connections to Penn State, believe it or not.

How about your other top schools? What draws you to Georgia, NC State, UNC, and others?

I definitely like Georgia, I like NC State, I like LSU. I like Virginia Tech. I'd say all those schools are what I'm kind of interested in and what I'm focused on in this last stretch of recruiting. I'm not getting tired of it, but I kind of just want to think about it, make a decision, and live with that decision. Just go on with my life.

Some people say it's fun, some people do it for the attention. Me, I just want to make sure I'm right, because last time I wasn't [talking about his previous UNC commitment]. A lot of stuff happened. I just want to make sure I'm 110% sure that I make a decision that I can wake up the next morning and not even think about 'was I right?'.

Did the visit to Penn State change you interest in the school at all, for better or for worse?

I wouldn't say it's elevated like, I want to go back there tomorrow, but it was definitely mind-blowing. I liked it a lot. I look forward to getting back up there. Coach Franklin actually just got off the phone with my dad, so I think at first they really liked me, but their thing was they never saw me in person. So they weren't really sure, like is he really 6'5", 6'6"? Is he really 280? So I guess when I got there and got weighed, they were saying this kid is the real deal.

Do you have any idea when you're going to take your official visit to Penn State? (He'll be on an official visit at Virginia Tech this weekend)

Not sure. It might be for the Temple game, I know they only have two home games left. Most likely it's going to be sooner. [On the possibility of taking a visit after the season] Either one, doesn't really matter to me. Going to a game would be nice though.

Which coaches from which school are the ones that talk to you the most, day in and day out?

I'd probably say Coach Smith from Penn State, Coach Gattis, Coach Franklin I hear from like once a week. From Georgia, Coach Lindsey. NC State is Coach Doeren and Coach Kitchings. There's a lot.

Would you say that Georgia, Virginia Tech, Penn State, LSU, NC State is your top group right now?

I'm not going to say that, because stuff gets mixed up these days. You can call it whatever you want to call it [laughs].

Is there something that you want to see from Penn State that would push them over the top, or for any other school?

I don't have a certain time frame on when I want to commit. Hopefully it's next month, but I just feel like I'll know when it's time. I'll have that feelings that I'll know. So I don't think there's one specific thing, it's just a matter of me finding out, so that's it.

Thanks for talking, Emanuel. Follow him on twitter at @Mcgirt7.