Penn State maintains busy spring schedule hosting visitors
Development isn’t limited to the field for the Penn State football program this spring.
Into the first week of spring practices, they will help set up the program for its offseason work. That includes veterans and newcomers alike, Penn State also welcomed 10 mid-semester enrollees into the program in January.
As Penn State’s Director of Player Personnel, Andy Frank, revealed this week, the program’s effort extends to its future, too.
“The NCAA calls it a quiet period, which means kids can come on campus. They’re able to visit us. We’re not able to go off campus,” Frank told host Steve Jones on the Penn State Coaches Show. “So we’ve really heated up here with spring practice, going back from spring break.”
According to BWI recruiting analyst Ryan Snyder, Penn State was expected to host as many as 20 prospects Saturday. Among them, the Nittany Lions were also expecting potential scholarship performers.
But as Frank detailed Thursday, Penn State’s hosting duties run nearly every day of the week at this time of year.
“The number of visitors, it’s four, five, to 10, 15, 20 a day that we have coming through campus. Then we’ll watch practice typically,” Frank said. “More guys will come on practice days, they like to watch practice. So basically, Monday, Wednesday, then on the weekends, we got guys coming in, and a couple on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. They’re coming to see us and come check us out and be around our staff.”
Penn State builds relationships through spring visits
Long extolling an atmosphere within the Penn State program predicated on building strong relationships, Frank insisted that continues to be the Nittany Lions’ best asset in recruiting.
“I think that’s the thing that prospects and that we enjoy the most. It is the ability to kind of interact with the kids and them interact with us,” Frank said. “It’s interesting, you can sit down with a prospect and what do they want out of the recruiting process.
“At the end of the day, they want the meetings and they want the fun. They want all these things, but they just want to feel like it’s the right fit for them. And that comes from the relationships with the people.”
Blue White Illustrated will expect to catch up with many of this weekend’s visitors on Sunday.
Frank’s comments suggest those elements will remain their biggest takeaways from the visits.
“I think that’s something that’s allowed us to be successful is that there’s a genuine care about the kids and the kids’ development here that people feel when they come on campus,” he said.
Penn State’s spring practices run from March 20 through the Blue-White Game on April 23.
