Phil's Corner: Penn State Class of 2018 best since Class of 1991
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By Phil Grosz
The most highly rated recruiting class in Penn State football history is the one the Nittany Lions signed in 1991.
That group, which predated the emergence of recruiting-focused websites by more than a decade, was the consensus No. 1 class in the country. It included five prep All-America running backs (Mike Archie, Ki-Jana Carter, Brian King, J.T. Morris and Stephen Pitts), plus All-America wide receiver Bobby Engram. A native of Camden, S.C., Engram went on to win the first Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football. He later enjoyed an illustrious 14-year NFL career, and he was far from the only player in that group to reach the game’s highest level. Thirteen of Engram’s classmates also got an opportunity to play in the NFL.
But more important than any of the individual awards they accrued during their football careers was the foundation the Class of 1991 laid for Penn State’s success during the early years of the Big Ten era. In 1994, only their second season of conference membership, the Nittany Lions went 12-0 and defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl, finishing No. 2 in the polls behind Nebraska. The Lions fielded one of college football’s all-time best offenses that season, one that averaged more than 47 points and 500 yards per game.
In some respects, Penn State’s most recent recruiting class is reminiscent of its celebrated predecessor. For example, there are some striking geographic similarities. The Class of 1991 included players from eight states, while the Class of 2018 has players from 10. The Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions were well-represented in the earlier class, and also in the new one, as Penn State was able to sign players from states that are often dominated by the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences.
In 1991, the Lions’ willingness to venture into seemingly inhospitable territory was perhaps best exemplified by Engram’s signing. He was rated one of the five best wide receivers in the country following his senior season at Camden High School, but Penn State managed to outcompete other schools that were closer to his hometown. The running backs were also a reflection of the Lions’ regional recruiting prowess. Of the five prep All-Americans in that group, only one – Archie – was from Pennsylvania. Carter and King were from Ohio, Morris was from Virginia and Pitts was from New Jersey.
The biggest difference in the geographical makeup of these two classes is that Penn State went into Texas during the most recent recruiting cycle, landing cornerback Trent Gordon of Spring and safety Isaiah Humphries of Rowlett.
Penn State’s Class of 2018 ended up being rated by Rivals.com as the fifth-best group in the country behind Georgia, Ohio State, Southern California and Texas. It’s the Nittany Lions’ most highly rated class since Rivals began issuing its rankings in 2002.
Keeping that in mind, and understanding the type of success that James Franklin and his assistant coaches enjoyed in 2015, ’16 and ’17, one can’t help but wonder: Can the Class of 2018 have the same type of impact on the program down the road that the 1991 class had on Penn State less than four years after it signed its letters of intent? Could this class serve as the foundation for a College Football Playoff run in 2019 or 2020?
When you look at Penn State’s scholarship roster going into the upcoming season, you see that the depth at most positions is comparable to (and in some cases better than) it was going into the 1992 season. Joe Paterno and his assistant coaches had recruited a number of coveted high school prospects in 1988, ’89 and ’90, players such as Kerry Collins and Kyle Brady, but the Lions didn’t have as many prep All-Americans as Franklin signed in the three classes leading up to the most recent recruiting cycle.
In 2015, ’16 and ’17, Penn State signed one five-star and 27 four-star players. This past class added two five-star, 16 four-star and four three-star recruits. And one of the most encouraging aspects of the 2018 class is that the talent infusion addresses some very specific needs. With Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton, Jason Cabinda, Curtis Cothran, Christian Campbell, Grant Haley, Troy Apke and Marcus Allen all having moved on to the NFL, that’s a very important consideration.
Among the best examples of how Penn State has succeeded in addressing its needs are the players it has signed at running back, wide receiver and tight end in recent years.
Consider the running backs Franklin and his staff have landed in their past four recruiting classes: Barkley (2015), Miles Sanders (2016) and Ricky Slade (2018). Barkley ended up being taken as the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Sanders was named a five-star running back by two recruiting services and is poised to succeed Barkley, while Slade will arrive in late June as the No. 2 all-purpose running back in the country.
The Nittany Lions might not have the kind of depth at running back right now that they had in the early ’90s when Carter, Archie and Pitts all were seeing action, but there is a lot of potential here, and it’s only likely to grow in the coming years, with Penn State looking to sign two running backs in the Class of 2019.
At tight end, Penn State had a future first-round NFL draft choice in Brady heading into the 1992 season, but there were no other prep All-Americans on its depth chart. In 2018, the Lions may be in a better spot. It would be unfair, of course, to place Brady-sized expectations on any one player, but they’ve got a number of very good prospects with the potential to eventually give the program its best depth situation here in close to a decade.
What needs to take place is for Jonathan Holland and Nick Bowers to enter preseason practice healthy and for redshirt sophomore Danny Dalton to build on what he was able to accomplish in spring practice. In addition, the Lions will need Class of 2018 freshmen Zack Kuntz and Pat Freiermuth to be ready to make an early impact. Rivals.com rated them among top six tight end prospects in the country for the Class of 2018, so the potential exists for both to shine at Penn State.
At wide receiver, the Class of 1991 brought Engram and Freddie Scott. By the time the 1994 season began, prep All-American Joe Jurevicius had been added to the mix. Engram, Scott and Jurevicius gave the Lions one of the best three-man rotations in the Big Ten.
This year, Penn State is looking to replace career receptions leader DaeSean Hamilton and frequent starter Saeed Blacknall. The situation is analogous to the early 1990s. The Nittany Lions have the kind of depth they had in 1992 with the potential to develop the kind of receiver corps they had in 1994.
Penn State has recruited outstanding wideout classes the past two years. In 2017, the Lions signed a four-star receiver in K.J. Hamler and two three-star wideouts in Mac Hippenhammer and Cameron Sullivan-Brown. Hamler and Hippenhammer both impressed in practice this spring and should be in the five-man rotation, with Hamler pushing to replace Hamilton as the starter in the slot.
Accompanying those young players are veterans Juwan Johnson, Brandon Polk and DeAndre Thompkins, and another batch of blue-chip wideouts is on the way, with Penn State having recruited the nation’s No. 3 wide receiver class. That class features one five-star prospect in Justin Shorter and two four-star players in Jahan Dotson and Daniel George. The Lions have the potential to enter the coming season with the No. 1 group of wideouts in the Big Ten. Rivals.com rated Shorter as the third-best receiver in the country for the Class of 2018. If he, Dotson and George play up to their potential, PSU could have the best group of wide receivers in the Big Ten for the next three or four years.
That same situation could exist on the offensive line with the players Penn State has recruited the past three years. The Lions went into spring practice in mid-March believing they were two-deep at all five spots. In addition to projected starters Ryan Bates (left tackle), Steven Gonzalez (left guard), Connor McGovern (center), Michal Menet (right guard) and Will Fries (right tackle), the line features a number of talented reserves in Alex Gellerstedt, Zach Simpson, Mike Miranda, C.J. Thorpe, Chasz Wright and Des Holmes.
Penn State’s most recent offensive line class makes the future that much brighter. Rivals.com considers it second-best in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and one of the top five groups in the country. Rasheed Walker and Nana Asiedu were rated seventh and 11th, respectively, among all offensive tackles nationally. Juice Scruggs was a four-star prospect who could play guard or center. Bryce Effner received three stars and looks as though he will give the Lions the flexibility they’re always looking for, as he could fit in at either guard or tackle. Simply put, the Lions may have more depth on the offensive line than they’ve had at any point since the 1994 season.
Defensively, Penn State was no better than average in 1994, as only a few of the defensive recruits in the Class of 1991 were top-rated prospects. That is not at all the case with the Class of 2018.
Up front, Franklin and his assistants were able to recruit the No. 2 defensive line class in the Big Ten and one of the top five classes in the country. The group is headed up by four-star tackles P.J. Mustipher, Judge Culpepper and Aeneas Hawkins, four-star end Jayson Oweh and linebacker-turned-defensive-end Nick Tarburton. The arrival of Mustipher, Culpepper and Hawkins is well-timed, given the graduation losses Penn State has absorbed at defensive tackle. Meanwhile, Oweh and Tarburton should fit in nicely with Shareef Miller, Ryan Buchholz, Yetur Gross-Matos, Shane Simmons, Shaka Toney and Daniel Joseph at defensive end.
Penn State’s Class of 2018 linebacker recruits will combine with junior Cam Brown and senior Koa Farmer to provide the Nittany Lions with needed depth this fall, and then they will help anchor the linebacker corps for the next three years. Micah Parsons, Jesse Luketa and Charlie Katshir are the youngest players in this group, but several of the team’s other linebackers – Ellis Brooks, Dae’Lun Darien and Brelin Faison-Walden – have at least three years of eligibility remaining. For now, the Lions don’t have a lot of experience at this position group. If they hope to have a starting linebacker corps in 2019 and 2020 that is capable of spearheading a playoff push, Parsons, Luketa and Katshir will need to lead that charge.
In the secondary, Penn State should be in good shape for not just the upcoming season but the 2019 and ’20 campaigns as well. The Lions will field two new starters this coming season, with Campbell and Haley off to the NFL. Their exits leave Amani Oruwariye, Tariq Castro-Fields and John Reid as the Lions’ three top returning cornerbacks this fall. Redshirt sophomore Zech McPhearson, junior Jabari Butler and redshirt freshmen Donovan Johnson and D.J. Brown all performed well in spring practice, which should mean that 2018 recruits Trent Gordon and Jordan Miner will have the luxury of redshirting this fall.
There are two vacancies at safety, with Allen and Apke both having been drafted, but whatever help Penn State gets from its freshmen this fall is likely to come from the Class of 2017, as Jonathan Sutherland is being touted as a potential contributor coming off a redshirt season last fall. The only true freshman who would even have a chance to play at one of these spots is Isaiah Humphries. The 6-0, 191-pounder was on campus this past spring after enrolling in January, but it’s more likely that he will redshirt.
Even though none of its members are likely to receive early playing time, I believe the Class of 2018 will provide Penn State’s secondary with the same type of foundation that the Class of 1991 provided in ’94.
Franklin’s Class of 2018 is without question Penn State’s best since its No. 1-rated Class of 1991. College Football Playoff, here they come.
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Blue White Illustrated has put the finishing touches on our latest issue of our magazine. Let's take a look at all of the stories and features, here:
THE RUNDOWN:
RECRUITING - As always, BWI recruiting analysts Ryan Snyder and Tim Owen have your Penn State football recruiting fix! In this issue, we continue to look ahead to the Class of 2019 as it continues to expand. Check out our exclusive interview with Caedan Wallace, as well as Up Close and Personal feature stories on Bryce Effner, Will Levis, and Charlie Katshir.
SPRING FOOTBALL RECAP: BWI editor Matt Herb kicks off our spring football recap with an analysis of Penn State and the work it put in throughout March and April. In a second feature, Tim Owen breaks down the answered questions from the spring practice session, and those that are yet to come. Miles Sanders, Kevin Givens, Zech McPhearson and Lamont Wade all get special feature treatment, too.
FRESHMEN OF INFLUENCE: These are the names and faces that will define Penn State football, basketball, and other non-revenue sports for years to come, led by our cover boy, Micah Parsons. Learn more about Parsons' acclimation to the Nittany Lions this spring and what his sights are set on moving forward.
"EARLY RISER" - BWI special contributor Lou Prato examines D.J. Dozier's ascent as a Nittany Lion, and what it took to get off the ground so quickly in his career at Penn State.
RASIR BOLTON - BWI hoops writer Nate Bauer breaks down the Nittany Lions' surge of incoming recruits, led by guards Rasir Bolton and Myles Dread.
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