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Committany Nation (6.10.16): Clifford in the Elite 11 and a Goodbye

The final recruiting update of my Black Shoe Diaries career.

By Nick Polak
Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Sean Clifford is Elite

After an impressive performance at the Elite 11 camp, Sean Clifford was officially named one of 2017's top-11 quarterbacks and received his invitation to The Opening camp at Nike headquarters in Oregon. Clifford put on a show all week, displaying his accuracy, poise, arm strength and intelligence, which was more than enough to earn him a spot on the camp's final list.

Fred Hansard names a top-9

One of the country's top defensive tackles in the 2017 class, four-star Fred Hansard, named a top-9 recently that included Penn State.

Hansard is the No. 3 player in New Jersey, and plays a position of extreme need for the Nittany Lions. He would be an excellent pick up for Penn State.

Dalyn Wade-Perry names a top-8

Another high-profile defensive tackle announced his top group that included Penn State, as well. Dalyn Wade-Perry, while not ranked as highly as Hansard, has an extremely impressive offer sheet.

Wade-Perry has stated publicly that Notre Dame and Stanford currently top his list, however, so it will take quite the effort from the Penn State coaching staff, and likely a very strong season on the field to truly be in contention for Wade-Perry's services.

Tariq Castro-Fields talks summer visits

The three-star athlete takes time to talks about where he'll be visiting this summer.

Goodbye

I can't put into words how much I have enjoyed covering Penn State football, basketball and particularly recruiting for Black Shoe Diaries over the past three years. While there are plenty of people out there who do a far better job with 'crootin coverage than I do, I've still had a blast doing it. When I look back at the first article I published on BSD, I'm amazed to see how far I've come as a writer. I'd like to say that it's thanks to my own perseverance and ability, but really, that improvement falls on a large collection of people I've learned from over the years.

So thank you to Cari, Jared and the rest of the BSD staff. Thank you to Bill, Dan, Matt (jk, not Matt) and others who have moved on to blogger heaven. Thank you to Jason Kirk, Bud Elliott, Luke Zimmermann, Matt Brown, Pete Volk, Peter Berkes and everyone else with the SB Nation mothership. Thank you to Sean Fitz, Ryan Snyder, Greg Pickel, Mike Wilson and everyone else outside of SB Nation. Each and every one of you has helped make me the writer I am today, which hopefully you view as a compliment, not an insult.

Finally, thank you, readers. I started writing for Black Shoe Diaries because I already spent 80% of my time talking about Penn State anyway, so I figured I might as well contribute those thoughts to the world. I've stayed around, though, because of the community. There's no way I would have continued writing this long if I thought that my work went unread or unappreciated, but I've never felt that here. I can't express how much I sincerely appreciate how dedicated you all are to my work and the work of my colleagues. It has been an honor writing for this audience.

Alas, the time has come for me to move on from Black Shoe Diaries and SB Nation. Perhaps one day I shall return, but for now, I need to head in a new direction. Thank you everyone for your support over the years. I hope that my writing has helped you get your daily fix of all things Penn State, and I hope that I was able to get a chuckle out of you once in a while (hopefully I at least got you with this running back speed comparison graphic).

Peace out, y'all. Go State.

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