Success with Hyperlinking is laughing at Bama

Mourning the Loss of a former Nittany Lion:

Usually, this post would’ve started off with the story we have up next but bigger news came up this past week that I’d like to quickly discuss first.

Late Thursday night in Philadelphia, former Penn State walk-on quarterback Sean Schellenger was killed after being stabbed following an altercation on his way home from having dinner.

Most people probably never heard of him when it comes to Penn State football history. After all, he was a walk-on quarterback in the early 2000s, that being said, we should still remember Schellenger and the legacy he lives behind.

The 2004 graduate of Penn State quickly rose in the real estate industry and before he knew it became one of the top real estate developers in the city of Philadelphia. Since 2007 he has been the president and CEO of his own company, Streamline Solutions. He also was the charitable type as in 2013 he started Helping Hands Philadelphia.

The non-profit organization’s mission to helps build affordable residences in the city in poor Philadelphia neighborhood while also restoring properties in poorer conditions while also economically helping the community through funding as well as hiring local contractors to help with the building projects.

All of us here at Black Shoes Diaries would like to send our condolences to Sean’s family, friends, and colleagues.

No Alabama, you don’t have the best QB room in the country:

Alabama for the longest time under Nick Saban did not exactly turn out the best quarterbacks and to be fair neither did Penn State. That being said, the two programs are battling it out for who has the best quarterback room in the country, while other schools like West Virginia try to make their own arguments.

That being said, the Alabama football program had the confidence this week to name themselves the best quarterback room in the country. Tommy Stevens wasn’t having any of that.

It’s not much of an argument either, Trace McSorley is a better all-around quarterback than Jalen Hurts and sure Tua Tagovailoa had some great moments in the Championship game but he also has played just a single game. Analysts around the country have gone as far as some ranking Trace McSorley as the nation’s best quarterback while ranking Tommy Stevens as one of the nation’s top backups. In all reality, the quarterbacks rooms are probably pretty close but we’re going to be homers hear and say the good guys have the better room.

Comparing Franklin and Dabo, again.

Last month, our own Patrick Koerbler explored similarities between James Franklin and Dabo Swinney. Well this week, SB Nation’s Michael Bird decided to go down a similar path and asked if Penn State is the next Clemson? We’ll allow you to find the answer out on your own.

Is recruiting go to far?

Yahoo Sports’s Pete Thamel wrote an article this week about the “ridiculous” recruiting tactic that is offering sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. It’s worth the read and I highly suggest you take a few minutes out of your day to do so.

It also left me feeling the need to ramble about the subject here for a minute or two. If you want to skip this part go ahead, thanks for reading and have a great weekend;

Offering eight graders isn’t something that is brand new to college football after all it was about eight years ago when a quarterback from Delaware named David Sills committed to the USC. Sills at the time was expected to be the next big thing at quarterback and after a successful high school career he would go to USC and win National Championships for the Trojans. Okay, maybe the expectations weren’t that high nationally but there were fair share of USC fans who probably had such a dream.

Well, now Sills is one of the best in college football, however it’s not at quarterback but wide receiver. The West Virginia standout brought in the most touchdowns in the country last season and has high expectations following him into his senior season with the Mountaineers. The lesson of all this though, is offering an eighth grader is a risky proposition, especially if you give them a commitable offer. It’s hard enough to project how ninth and tenth graders are going to be once they get into college and adding a whole additional year to that makes it even tougher. Sure, there are success stories like former five-star linebacker and running back Dylan Moses, who’s now at Alabama but the point remains.

Now, imagine offering a sixth grader. If you didn’t read the article, than this may be a surprise to you but Indiana did just that once and their not the only ones to ever do it. That leaves me with the question of, is are college coaches and recruiting gong too far? I’d love to hear your responses.