Penn State early enrollees in Blue-White Game action: BWI Photos
Penn State football head coach James Franklin had to make the point.
Meeting with the media Saturday afternoon following the Blue-White Game at Beaver Stadium, his attention was directed at the early enrollees to the program this semester.
Welcoming 10 in all, eight would-be seniors in high school spending the spring at Penn State, plus a junior college transfer and a graduate transfer, the Nittany Lions were pleased with the progress shown this spring.
“We probably have more guys in this recruiting class – and I’m not really talking about rankings, because as we know, those things are nice, but at the end of the day it’s about what really shows up on your campus from a production standpoint – and we probably have more new guys showing up on campus that have a chance to impact the roster as freshmen than maybe we’ve ever had,” Franklin said. “Maybe one other class that did that. So, we’re excited about that.”
Saturday, and the rest of the spring, offered a glimpse why.
Along with two heralded quarterbacks, Penn State showed plenty of action for running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Receivers Omari Evans and Kaden Saunders were frequent targets. Mitchell Tinsley made a couple of nice receptions, too.
On defense, Zane Durant popped all spring. Tight end Jerry Cross joined a room Franklin described as one of the country’s best. And, of course, J.B. Nelson offered a showed some of what he can bring to the offensive line.
“Where I think this class may be different is, obviously we’ve all seen the increase in mid-semester grads. We’re getting more guys that are graduating early and coming in, learning the system, and then going into summer with a chance to truly compete,” he said. “So overall, I’m excited about it.”
All afternoon, BWI photographer Steve Manuel captured Penn State’s newest additions in action.
Check out his gallery, here:
Penn State early enrollees in action:
