Joe Paterno is often criticized for not making recruiting trips to woo high school football players to come to Penn State, but those criticisms may be a bit exaggerated.
“I’m just real excited to play for one of the great coaches in the history of the game, “ Skyler Mornhinweg said in a story by Rick O’Brien on Philly.com. Mornhinweg gave Penn State his verbal commitment on Tuesday following his decision to open up his recruiting after previously committing to Stanford. The St. Joseph’s Prep quarterback made that decision once Jim Harbaugh left the program to take a head coaching job with the San Francisco 49ers.
Asked about whether or not he had any concerns about the future of the program, Mornhinweg, son of Philadelphia Eagles assistant coach Marty Mornhinweg, said, “I’m sure Penn State will operate the same way for years to come.”
“He’s got an arm. He diagnoses defenses pretty well because his dad is one of the best offensive coordinators around,” said Mike Farrell of Rivals.com in a report by Frank Bodani of the York Daily Times. “He’s tough as nails. He has no problem coming up and smacking people. He’s a rare two-way quarterback.
Mornhinweg and his father made a day-and-a-half trip to Penn State last month, and that may have been all that was needed for Paterno and assistants Jay Paterno, Galen Hall and Ron Vanderlinden to make their case.The pickup has been seen as a bright addition for the offense, and it could not have come at a much better time.
Earlier this month, Penn State appeared to lose a 5-star defensive end, Jarron Jones, who is looking at Notre Dame, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Jones said he had offered nothing more than a soft verbal. Penn State is still considered to be in the picture but the news comes off a bit alarming. New Jersey lineman Jamil Pollard has also reopened his recruitment after Penn State withdrew their offer with a concern looming over Pollard’s academics.
Paterno may not make the in-home visits he used to in decades past, but that does not mean he is not a part of the process. He is still meeting with recruits when they are on campus, and when was the last time a player or family member had a negative comment on that encounter? Some thought that Paterno’s reluctance to allow Rob Bolden to follow through with a transfer request came off as a bit stubborn and wondered what kind of message that would send players considering Penn State.
But then we learned that Paterno has been using Skype to interact with recruits. He may not understand the technology as well as his social media savvy son Jay, but the message was clear: Paterno continues to find ways to adapt as the game of college football changes on and off the field.
Eleven verbal commitments later, Penn State seems as though they will be in pretty decent shape.
Kevin McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com. Follow his college football discussion on Google+ and Twitter. Become a fan of him on Facebook.
