TEAMMATES MAKE VIRTUAL VISIT

With prospects unable to meet with coaching staffs and players during visits to campus due to the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, virtual visits have become the new norm in college football recruiting.

Last Wednesday, defensive end Dante Anderson and defensive tackle Daniel Lyons, teammates at Homestead High School in Homestead, Florida, had virtual visits with the Penn State coaching staff.

2021 was the first recruiting cycle since JaJuan Seider was hired that Penn State did not sign any players from the state of Florida. With Floridians unable to officially visit Penn State, that was undoubtedly a major factor in that happening.

Hopefully, whenver the recruiting dead period ends, more on that below, interested prospects from Florida will be able to make it back to campus and Seider can start to work his magic again. Especially with the clear interest that prospects such as Anderson and Lyons have in Penn State, not to mention how many of Penn State’s top targets this cycle have found their way to IMG Academy.

RECRUITING DEAD PERIOD EXTENDED

Once again, the NCAA has extended their recruiting dead period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This dead period now runs through May 31. While it is understandable that the NCAA has to work to keep coaches, recruiting staffs, prospects, etc. safe during the pandemic, they can not continue to push back the dead period.

During the 2021 cycle countless players were forced to make a college decision without being given the opportunity to visit campuses to interact with coaches and players. This is not fair to high school kids who are in the process of making the biggest decision of their lives.

The NCAA needs to step up and do more. One idea would be to re-open official visits and include rapid testing for prospects and their families as part of the expenses that official visits pay for.

Odds are, the NCAA will also be forced to drop the usual summer dead period. If visits start back up in June, they will need to allow visits to take place throughout the summer. Unfortunately, this puts coaching staffs in a tough spot as it cuts into the type they would typically dedicate to preparing for the season and not put as much of a emphasis on recruiting.

With the way things are trending with the virus (fingers crossed) things will be in a much better place by June as more and more people continue to get vaccinated. But regardless of where things are with the pandemic the NCAA needs to allow visits to start up again, high school kids looking to choose their college deserve as much.

NEW OFFERS

Last Wednesday, the Nittany Lions extended an offer to rising safety D’Arco Perkins-McAllister.

Perkins-McAllister is a Nashville native who is watching his recruitment start to take off. In addition to Penn State, Perkins-McAllister has added offers from Ole Miss, Texas A&M, LSU, Virginia Tech and Tennessee in the last week.

With Perkins-McAllister starting to blow up with offers it will be tough to keep him out of the south. That said, if nothing else, this appears to be yet another situation of Penn State identifying a talent before most other schools.

Another new defensive back offer that went out was to four-star Georgia native Mumu Bin-Wahad.

In addition to being a member of the all-name team, Bin-Wahad attends Grayson High School which produced one time Nittany Lion defensive back Kasey Gaines. In addition to Penn State, Bin-Wahad also holds Power 5 offers from Arizona State, Arkansas and Michigan State.

FIVE STAR WIDE RECEIVER’S TOP 8

Over the weekend five-star wide receiver Kevin Coleman released his top 8 schools. This group includes the Nittany Lions.

Coleman attends St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis. Penn State is a school that has quietly been in the thick of Coleman’s recruitment for some time now. While Penn State landing Coleman may be a longshot, they are in this recruitment more than people would think and, if nothing else, being the top 8 for a five-star prospect is always good for the brand.