Blessed & Honored: Penn State Makes Move for 2020 Florida Four-Star, While Cine is Ready to Decide

“THIS COULD END UP BEING THE SCHOOL I GO TO”

Despite the end result on the field, the Whiteout weekend was a complete success recruiting wise for the Nittany Lions. While they landed a commitment from 2019 tight end Brenton Strange, they also made headway with some of the top junior prospects in the country.

One of those top 2020 prospects was Florida four-star linebacker Derek Wingo. Wingo — who came into town a bit early on Friday — told Bill Greene of 247Sports that Penn State moved way up his list.

“Before I got up to Penn State, they were one of my top schools, but I really didn’t know much about them,” Wingo stressed. “After all is said and done and having been there for three days, it obviously blew me away.”

You can read Greene’s article in his entirety here. Wingo talks more about his weekend, and gives his thoughts on James Franklin’s press conference. (Hint: It was good.)

Moving forward, Wingo will be an interesting kid to watch. He loves Ohio State with the Buckeyes owning six of his 247 crystal ball predictions, but this one doesn’t seem like the slam dunk it originally might have been. We’ll see if some of the southern schools jump into Wingo’s top list, but this is shaping up to be a Penn State-Ohio State battle.

*buckles chinstrap*

RECAPPING THE OFFICIAL VISITS

Obviously, Brenton Strange enjoyed his official visit weekend, but there were other four-stars prospects to make their way for official visits this weekend.

Four-Star Indiana WR David Bell: Bell will take all five officials (Purdue, Ohio State, Iowa, and Indiana) in the next couple months, and will announce his decision on January 5 at the Army All-American Bowl. I would expect David Corley and Ricky Rahne to be out in Indianapolis a lot until then because Bell is a stud. He’s just outside the top 100 right now, but he very well could be a top 50 player in the country.

Four-Star New York DE Adisa Isaac: I’ve typed out “I think it’s Isaac” in the BSD recruiting slack for every “We Are...Better” for the last four months. Eventually, I will be correct.

Four-Star DB Noa Pola-Gates: Pola-Gates is an Alabama lean, but that has been the case for quite some time now so who knows how the Crimson Tide are playing that one. You can see below, but Pola-Gates’ uncle Al Polamalu (won a national championship here at Penn State, nonchalant no big deal) accompanied him on the trip to Happy Valley this weekend.

Four-Star Texas WR Jalen Curry: Penn State didn’t offer the productive Texas wideout until the summer so a pretty quick turnaround trip to Happy Valley shows Curry’s interest.

CINE ANNOUNCING OCTOBER 10

Top 100 safety Lewis Cine tweeted out earlier this week that he’ll be making his college commitment on October 10 with the finalists being Georgia, Penn State, Texas, Florida, and Michigan.

A one time Penn State lean, this one is trending the opposite way for the Nittany Lions since Cine made the move from Massachusetts to Texas. While it looks like Penn State had some coaches down in Cedar Hill this week, it would be a stunner if Georgia wasn’t the pick next Wednesday.

PENN STATE OFFERS 2021 LEGACY

Penn State letterman Todd Rucci was good at the football, and so to is his son apparently, as 6-foot-8, 266-pound sophomore OT Nolan Rucci landed an offer from James Franklin last weekend.

It should be noted that Nolan’s older brother, Hayden Rucci, is a 2019 three-star tight end committed to Wisconsin, so the family pull isn’t just to Penn State. But...I mean...yeah. Nittany Lions probably feeling pretty good here.

Also, 6-foot-8 15 year olds? What? How? No.