Penn State lands 4* QB Michael O'Conner
Penn State just landed a commitment from Michael O'Conner, a 4 star QB from Canada by way of Florida. This, a year after they landed 5 star Christian Hackenberg. I continue to be very impressed by Bill O'brien as a recruiter. These kids continue to sign up to play for him despite the sanctions. And these aren't just kids who don't have better options The jury is still out on his coaching, but it seems that if Penn State can hold onto him until the sanctions end, they could have a good coach. I, for one, are hoping they do. A strong Penn State is good for the Big Ten. Especially considering Michigan's historic dominance against them.
...but Tom Brady saved Penn State. I'm not implying anything other than O'Brien's work with Brady and the Pat's offense has attracted top QBs wanting to get to the NFL.
I think these top QBs are going to attract at least decent talent to PSU. I'm not saying PSU isn't going to feel the hurt, they will...but I think they'll be no worse than a .500 team and they'll be "back" sooner than most would've originally thought.
I took that as bluster on the part of the NCAA. I can't see how it's anywhere close. Maybe in year four these sanctions could be worse, but I think depth, especially experienced depth would be far, far worse in years two and three. That's without considering the death penalty year.
Because their roster will be decimated for the better part of the decade, and when the sacntions are finally over its going to be 2020 before the roster is full, and even then, they will still be young. Just like with USC, the sanctions will eventually catch up to them. Granted they have a seemingly competent coach unlike Kiffen, but with 15 recruits per cycle and 65 scholarship players, you almost can't have any recruiting misses, and any kids getting homesick or injured may cripple the team for the year. And this will go on until past 2018. The death penalty would cancel last year's season and then things would go back to normal. I think this dooms PSU to mediocrity for the rest of the decade.
would certainly beg to differ vis-a-vis "things would go back to normal" after the death penalty year.
The idea that PSU's sanctions were worse, as bad as, or even within an order of magnitude as severe as the death penalty is just... wow. Mind-boggling.
Which beings up a good point. Which school more grossly concealed facts in order to cover for their football team? The number of PSU apologists these days blows my mind. The fact that this story is old news does not make them any easier to root for. That whole town could burn down, for all I care...
What does their roster look like the year after a death penalty? I wouldn't expect many players to sit around. With a class limit of 25 they would be playing mostly walkons. It would take 4-5 years to restock the roster and get back to normal.
It may not be worse, but don't think that Penn State is getting off light with their sanctions just because O'Brien has managed to convince a couple of blue-chip recruits to come and play through the storm. The depth issues created by the scholarship limits will hurt and hurt for a long time. Consider that Hoke is still trying to patch holes up in our two deep left from Rich Rod attrition and recruiting misses from 2008 (not to mention the train wreck that is 2010), and he probably won't really have the ship completely righted until next year or the season after at the latest.
I don't care how good a coach you are, you can't fix these type of personnel problems in a season or two. Add to that the fact that Penn State is going to get less attractive to recruits when O'Brien starts going 6-6, 4-8; the problem will just exacerbate itself.
How could they be worse than the death penalty? What could be worse than not even having a team to field?
I love the smell of binary thinking in the morning.
This is even more impressive as this kid is from Florida. BOB my be a force in crute'in in the future, esp. since the NCAA will likely reduce the sanctions after this year (sanctions can be reduced by PSU showing improvements in administration and oversight).
O'Brien is great but what are the odds he is around to coach this kid?
I'm going with zero.
The topic of the Big Ten's subpar recruiting has been a particular point of interest on this blog lately, and here is a coach, under the strictest sanctions any one has had in a long time, out recruiting everyone not name Hoke or Meyer. I don't know if it says more about Bill O'Brien as a recruiter, or more about the rest of the big ten.
I'm not sure if we'll ever figure out why schools like Wisconsin and Michigan State can't recruit better despite years of unprecedented success.
As much as I hate Penn State for how vigorously so many of their fans defended the actions of Joe Paterno, I also feel so desperate for someone in the Big Ten to actually be good that maybe I can set that aside and root for then to get back on their feet.
Crap does that make me as bad as them?
Yet another mention of Michigan State in a thread that has nothing to do with them.
Who the fuck cares about Michigan State? Their perils aren't even worth talking about.
You do know one of the points of being rivals is trash talk right? Thats what rivals do, they talk about eachother.
Where was and/or why would MSU even being mentioned make any sense at all? Every damn thread some boob mentions MSU haphazardly without even staying on topic. Geez!
Didn't MSU get Durka Durka?
Not that I understand why they would turn down a highly touted 4 star, but then again, I don't understand many of the things they do.
I'm pretty sure Michigan State already landed a high 3 star/low 4 star QB for this class, so maybe that's the reason he didn't end up at State. That, or O'Brien is just working his "I coached Tom Brady" magic.
Ah, just looked him up and I guess it's "Durkin". Whoops. Would hate to imagine that turns into a joke for awhile... :)
because they seem to recruit as well or better than Penn State did in the last few Paterno years. They should definitely be better than awful, but I'm still thinking they're not going to have enough bodies to field a real 2-deep at anything
As much as I hate Penn St., I'm with the rest of you who have made positive comments in regards to the recruiting success he's having. A strong B1G is a good thing, although at least a half-dozen of the coaching staffs around the conference don't seem to realize it.
As a football fan, if I were a season-ticket holder or alumni right now anywhere other than Michigan or any of the schools that "get it" (Ohio, PSU, NU, UNL, and maybe IU, MSU, and/or Wisconsin), I'd seriously be questioning whether my AD and Head Coach have the level of commitment needed to keep their jobs.
BOB is obviously a good salesman, but having coached Tom Brady has to help a lot, especially in recruiting QBs and on offense in general. I'm sure he's telling the recruits he's using a pro-style offense, one that will give them a leg up when they move on to the NFL. He can also stroke recruits egos by comparing them to some of the players he's coached in the NFL: "hey kid, you know the last player I coached who had an arm and football savy like you is a guy you may have heard of, Tom Brady. Come play for me, and I can make you the next Tom Brady."
So...exactly like Greg Mattison except on the other side of the ball.
On the NFL experience, yes, they have very similar appeals they can use. Penn State has a recruiting video on youtube that I think is a great idea too. If you look at the part from about 1:40 to 2:00 he definitely plays up his Patriots experience and connection to Tom Brady, without ever mentioning names; it's all visual.
get why anyone would choose Penn State right now.
I kind of agreed at first. But when you look at O'Connor's scholarship offer list it's not surprising.
Akron, Buffalo, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, Penn State, Rutgers, South Florida, Southern Miss, Toledo, Vanderbilt.
Of those, which is the best offer besides Penn State?
Rutgers... maybe? I guess Mississippi State, Mizzou, and Vandy get some kind of nod because they're all SEC, but they're lower SEC schools. Two years ago choosing Penn State in this scenario would have been a no brainer.
Penn State obviously doesn't offer the chance to go to a bowl (for 3 years), but clearly O'Brien is selling the chance to play on television or go to the NFL, both of which Penn State players can still do.
So yeah, I'm kind of surprised in general, but it's not like O'Connor has half the schools Hackenberg did and is turning them down.
And Rutgers already has a QB recruit, so it's not clear that his offer there would have been commitable. Same for Michigan State and Vanderbilt, which leaves Missouri, Mississippi State, and USF as his only BCS offers without a QB in the class. I'm surprised he didn't choose Missouri or Miss State, but, as you say, it's not completely shocking he went with Penn State.
On the other hand, if more offers come in from BCS schools, I wouldn't be surprised if he decommits before NSD.
Yes, he was one of the final three.
iirc he was a bigger deal to Michigan State
I thought Caleb Henderson was considered higher on the coaches' list.
As much as PSU deserves what they got, you have to sort of have to feel for their fans. (When I went to a game at PSU, pre-scandal, the Penn State fans were some of the nicest I've been around.) You also have to root for O'Brien with his special needs son and coaching in the situation he is in. I think the B1G needs a strong Penn State.
I've been there when Michigan blew them out, and when PSU blew Michigan out. With a few exceptions, the PSU fans I saw were gracious in victory and defeat.
I've always heard Penn State is one of the worst schools to go to for an away game. I've heard of broken windshields and vandalized cars and general bro a-holes. Just had some OSU fans tell me this weekend they had the same experience when they went out there
Yep, same. Anecdotally have heard of one guy getting beer thrown on him and another getting pelted in the head by a full beer can.
Yeah, the beer can video of OSU fans getting pelted was posted on youtube a few years back. Link
It should be noted that the student in the video who went up and did a Hulk Smash with a can of beer was actually a student from Pitt. More info on the fallout from the event here and here.
To say Penn State fans (some not all) are nice would be an understatment.