One of the biggest challenges Penn State and head coach Bill O’Brien face in the wake of the NCAA sanctions and fines levied on Monday comes in the cutthroat world of recruiting, where coaches spend as much time dismissing other schools with possible recruits as propping theirs up.
It will be a difficult task, Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said in the wake of the alleged school-wide cover-up of convicted child rapist and former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, but not an impossible one.
“If I were them, I would [tell kids] two things: You have a chance to rebuild a historical program with character and leadership at a time when character and leadership are needed,” Farrell said. “No. 2: You’re going to play early and you’re going to play often. With limited scholarships and limited scholarship football players, there will be an abundance of playing time, not only down the road but immediately.”
Before the sanctions, that included vacating all wins from 1998-2011, a $60 million fine, a ban from bowl games for four years and a reduction of scholarships from 25 to 15, Farrell said Penn State was on its way to compiling a top 20 recruiting class. Two key members of that group — cornerback Ross Douglas of Ohio and lineman Greg Webb of New Jersey, both four-star recruits — already have de-committed.
“They’re going to have to be creative with their language,” Farrell said.
Just as important, Farrell said, is keeping the current crop of players whom the NCAA will allow to transfer without sitting out. Local products Stephen Obeng-Agyapong and Shane Phillips plan to stay at Penn State, their high school coaches told The Post — O’Brien has instituted a gag order, said Clinton assistant coach Alex Vega, who coached Obeng at John F. Kennedy — though current city prospects don’t plan on following them.
Thomas Jefferson defensive end Ebenezer Ogundeko, New York State’s top prospect who has received a scholarship offer from Penn State, said he won’t consider the Nittany Lions. Xaverian running back Laray Smith, who also has been recruited by Penn State, wasn’t as dismissive as Ogundeko, though he did say, “it made me lose interest in the school.”
Smith said he doesn’t think it’s a lost cause, and wouldn’t entirely rule out Penn State.
“You would have to see a change in the school,” he said. “They have to talk to the kids, give them a lot of one-on-one conversations, explain to them what’s going on. They have so much against them right now.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers advisor and former North Carolina and Miami coach Butch Davis said he thinks O’Brien needs to be creative. He may have to listen to parents bashing his program, Davis said, and he will be following rival coaches doing so as well.
“He has to come up with a real unique appeal, a way to explain why Penn State is special,” Davis said.