With almost a week off between games, Pat Chambers has been hard at work on the recruiting trail, looking at some of the best talent in and out of state.
A longtime target of the Nittany Lions, Sheldon Jeter, a 6-foot 6-inch, 185-pound small forward, told StateCollege.com Saturday that while he doesn’t plan on making an announcement any time soon, Penn State is strongly in his top three.
Jeter is currently ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Pittsburgh area by the Pittsburgh Basketball Report and is rated an 87 on ESPN.com. Jeter has received offers from Penn State, Wisconsin, Robert Morris, Duquesne, Arkansas, Seton Hall, Dayton and Northeastern. Jeter visited Penn State when the Nittany Lions hosted Indiana several weeks ago and was given an official offer by Chambers during that visit.
If Jeter were to commit to the Nittany Lions, he would be the second player Chambers has picked up while in competition with Wisconsin — Pittsburgh guard and 2013 class commit Geno Thrope being the first. Jeter’s signing would mark another high-profile player from within Pennsylvania to sign with Chambers, something that has been lacking in recent years of Penn State recruiting.
While Jeter has been courted by the Nittany Lions for some time, with Akosa Maduegbunam, a wing guard from Charlestown, Mass., and Brandon Taylor, a forward from Trenton (N.J.) Catholic, slated to join the Nittany Lions in 2013, Chambers has been without sufficient scholarships to sign another player such as Jeter under NCAA rules.
Chambers seems to have figured a way around that issue, however, as David Jones reported last week that freshman Peter Alexis would not be retaining his scholarship for the upcoming season and would either transfer or return to the roster as a preferred walk-on. Chambers has yet to comment on the move publicly, but it would allow Penn State to sign Jeter while staying within the parameters of the NCAA.
Out of state, Chambers recently watched Dominic Woodson, Jamel Artis and Daquein McNeil, a Vermont Academy trio who are eligible for the class of 2013. Chambers also made the trip all the way to Arizona last week to watch Jaron Hopkins, Torren Jones and Maurice Kirby play.
While Chambers remains limited with the number of scholarships he has to offer, he is setting a strong foundation toward changing the culture of Penn State basketball recruiting.
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