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This is the kind of thing that happens to teams that win three games in conference play. In a tweet sent out of the blue this afternoon, class of 2016 power forward Joe Hampton announced he was re-opening his recruitment:
Officially de-committed from PennState University. Opened my recruitment! Nothing against the PSU coaching staff or family
— young joseph (@JoeH_25) March 7, 2015
There's no word on the exact reason why Hampton decommitted, but it's almost certainly due to the horribly underwhelming season Penn State produced in 2015. With a vital offseason for Pat Chambers and his staff rapidly approaching, Hampton's decommitment is the last thing the program needed at this juncture.
Hampton, rated as the 155th overall recruit in the class of 2016 in 247 Sports' composite rankings, just completed his junior season with Oak Hill Academy. He was a major contributor to the nation's top high school team alongside PSU class of 2015 signee Josh Reaves, and he's a player Pat Chambers made a priority of getting. Penn State now has five open scholarships to work with in the class of 2016, and they'll need to make a splash with one of them in order to replenish the lost momentum.
Scholarship Matrix
| 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G - DJ Newbill^ | F - Brandon Taylor | G - Geno Thorpe | C - Julian Moore^ |
| 2 | G - John Johnson | F - Donovon Jack | C - Julian Moore^ | F - Payton Banks^ |
| 3 | F - Ross Travis | C - Jordan Dickerson | F - Payton Banks^ | G - Isaiah Washington |
| 4 | G - Kevin Montminy | G - Devin Foster | G - Isaiah Washington | G - Shep Garner |
| 5 | F - Brandon Taylor | G - Geno Thorpe | G - Shep Garner | F - Michael Watkins |
| 6 | F - Donovon Jack | C - Julian Moore^ | F - Michael Watkins | F - Deividas Zemgulis |
| 7 | C - Jordan Dickerson | F - Payton Banks^ | F - Deividas Zemgulis | G - Josh Reaves |
| 8 | G - Devin Foster | G - Isaiah Washington | G - Josh Reaves | |
| 9 | G - Geno Thorpe | G - Shep Garner | ||
| 10 | C -Julian Moore^ | F - Michael Watkins | ||
| 11 | F - Payton Banks^ | F - Deividas Zemgulis | ||
| 12 | G - Isaiah Washington | G - Josh Reaves | ||
| 13 | G - Shep Garner | |||
| Left | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Senior | Junior | Sophomore | Freshman |
Redshirting
^Used a redshirt year