Committany Nation: Five-Star Defensive End Scheduled To Visit Happy Valley

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Five-Star DE Josh Kaindoh Scheduled To Officially Visit

With Penn State’s fortunes changing on the field over the past eight weeks, so have its fortunes changed on the recruiting trail. There isn’t a better example of that than having five-star defensive end Josh Kaindoh scheduled to be on hand for the Michigan State game this weekend, according to his 247Sports profile.

The 6-foot-6, 256-pound defensive end once had the Nittany Lions as his leaders, but wound up deciding to stay home and committed to Maryland in late April. Kaindoh’s commitment appeared to be pretty solid, but he did visit Florida State on October 14 and now will be making the trek to Happy Valley.

Kaindoh is an early enrollee, which means he’ll be enrolling in January at whichever school he chooses for the upcoming spring semester. So his window for taking other visits isn’t very large, as the NCAA has a “Dead Period” (prospects can’t visit schools and coaches can’t visit prospects) from December 12, 2016 to January 11, 2017.

Now, the question of all questions — what are the chances Penn State flips him? To be honest, it’s still too early to say. What I will say though is that getting him on campus is half the battle, because two months ago this time even getting Kaindoh to visit seemed like a pipe dream. Maryland was undefeated, while Penn State was fresh off a 49-10 beating against Michigan. Since that time, the tides around both program have changed, dramatically so in Penn State’s case.

From the Nittany Lions’ perspective, you can’t really ask for much more from a recruiting weekend — potentially hundreds of former lettermen (Hi, Lavar) will be on hand down on the sidelines as Penn State should have the chance to claim the Big Ten East’s crown.

DT Fred Hansard Also Officially Visiting

Joining Kaindoh this weekend will be four-star defensive tackle Fred Hansard.

Hansard last visited Penn State for Iowa game, so this is a pretty quick turnaround for the Florida commit. It still remains to be seen if he has the grades to qualify, but it’s doubtful that Penn State would waste its time with Hansard if there wasn’t a semi-decent outlook.

Mike Miranda’s Senior Film

Offensive guard Mike Miranda posted his senior highlights on HUDL so let’s take a look.

Analysis: Nothing all that different from Miranda’s junior season, as he continues to just flat out dominate his competition and puts them on their backsides. Miranda will be enrolling early at Penn State, giving him an outside shot at playing his true freshman season. It’s expected that he’ll see work at center, and with Brian Gaia and Wendy Laurent leaving, it’s not inconceivable that Miranda could find himself in the mix for the two-deep.

LB Anthony Hines Is Announcing On December 2nd

Just a quick note that four-star linebacker Anthony Hines will be announcing his commitment a little over a week from now. The Texas linebacker visited Penn State back in September, but it would be a big upset if Hines were to choose the Nittany Lions. It looks like Texas A&M will be the choice.

Micah Parsons Visiting Ohio State Again

While I’m pretty sure this visit has been planned for a little while, it doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies that Parsons is potentially missing out on seeing Penn State win the Big Ten East title in favor of seeing the Big Ten’s *J.V. Championship.

*Ohio State plz win thx