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Committany Nation (5.14.15): Haskins Set to Announce, A New Offer and More

A top QB to announce, an big time target returns, and an offer to a future stud.

By Nick Polak

Dwayne Haskins Set to Commit

Four star pro-style quarterback and twitter extraordinaire, Dwayne Haskins, will verbally commit to the college of his choice on Friday. Haskins has been a Penn State target longer than most 2016 kids, and seemed to have extremely high interest early on. The 2016 Elite 11 invitee hasn't appeared on Penn State's campus since November, though. He's mentioned in various interviews across the internet that schools that already have a quarterback committed will not factor into his decision as much. However, we do know that James Franklin and the staff have been very open with all of their targets about the fact that they truly want two quarterbacks in the class (although that is a desire that has lessened a bit with the waning interest of their top targets and the improvements made by McSorely and Stevens).

In the graphic to go along with Dwayne's tweet, it shows logos for schools that are "in the running" for his commitment. Those schools are Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida and Penn State. Clearly the Nittany Lions are doing something right, despite not having had him on campus in a while, to remain in his big picture until the end. If you check out Haskins' Crystal Ball, it reads 67% Maryland, 19% Ohio State, 10% Rutgers, 2% Penn State, and 2% LSU. Now, if the picture to go with his tweet is to be believed, a solid 21% of those predictions shouldn't even be counted, since Ohio State and LSU aren't pictured. It's never easy to tell with Haskins though. And if you were wondering, that 2% for Penn State is me.

No, I don't think he'll commit to Penn State. In fact, if he does, I'll spend an entire day at some point this summer following Bill around, doing whatever he asks of me*. I just figure at this point, why bother to change it?

The real reason that Haskins commitment should draw interest from Penn State fans is the implications that go with it. Haskins is a big time name in the DMV area, and has great friendships and relationships with most of the DMV recruits. So if Haskins was to commit to Maryland, that could make the Terps a more attractive looking destination for players like DT Ellison Jordan, WR Trevon Diggs (who has claimed in the past that the two are a package deal) and others. Those two and plenty other DMV kids are Penn State targets. So whether you think Haskins is going to become a Nittany Lion or not, pay attention on Friday.

*This offer is only valid if he commits to Penn State on Friday. And future de-commitments/commitments/flips are not factored into this deal.

Ferns to Re-Visit Penn State

As we showed you recently, #1 2016 ILB Brendan Ferns (St. Clairesville, OH) has reset his recruitment back to square one. Ferns was expected to become a Buckeye commit, but decided that the university's lack of his desire major (petroleum engineering) was too much for Urban Meyer's recruiting sorcery to overcome. Ferns visited Penn State a little while back, and reportedly had an incredible visit, in which his parents were a part of. As has been said many times by the commenters of this site, Penn State does indeed have a fine petroleum engineering program. It's hard not to see Penn State as the favorites for Ferns as of right now, but West Virginia is a very real threat as well. It's also possible that he decides he's okay with being a little further from home at some point, and checks out some of the Texas/Oklahoma schools, as well.

We're in wait and see mode overall with Ferns for the time being, but thanks to Sean Fitz at Lions247, we do know that Ferns is indeed planning a return visit to Happy Valley.

We'll do what we can to bring you more information on that visit both before and after it occurs.

2017 OL Picks up an Offer

2017 Penn State target and North Allegheny offensive tackle, Josh Lugg, picked up his Penn State offer yesterday.

Lugg is rated a four star on the 247Composite, the #201 player overall in the 2017 class, the #24 overall offensive tackle and the #8 player in Pennsylvania. Lugg last visited Penn State back in February. I'll reach out to him in the coming days to try and get a reaction from him on the offer.

That's all for today, folks. Just a quick update. I'm just about finished with a full recruiting roundup, so hopefully I'll be able to have that out for you tomorrow morning.

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