WR John Metchie recaps PSU visit
Four-star wide receiver John Metchie was back in Happy Valley this weekend for his first official visit.
Dating back to July 2017, Metchie has been a regular visitor to Penn State, taking six unofficial visits between last summer and this year’s Blue-White Game. Now, for his seventh visit, he decided that it was time to use an official visit, as that would allow the Nittany Lion coaching staff to pay for his brother and mother to come down from Canada for an all-expenses paid trip.
“My mom and my brother were the main reason I took the official visit now,” Metchie said. “With me being so close with Penn State, the next step in my recruitment with them was to get my mom and brother on campus to see how they liked it.”
He added, “Mom was real impressed with the campus. She thought it was a beautiful campus. I know she was also impressed with the coaches. She said that she felt like this was home for me, which was good. Everyone there are really nice people, real caring people. That was big for her to see all of that.”
Metchie was hosted by redshirt freshman wide receiver KJ Hamler. The two have become friends in recent months, making Hamler the perfect host.
“KJ is my boy,” Methcie said. “I’ve been hanging out with him and staying with him every time I go up there, so we’re already close. But it was good to see him again and see all of the other wide receivers. They’re a cool group of guys. It was definitely good for me to get that team feel. I enjoyed being around all of the guys.”
In addition to sitting down with head coach James Franklin in his office, as well as watching film with wide receiver coach David Corley, Metchie and his family were able to have both breakfast and dinner with the coaching staff. During all of those opportunities, they made it clear to Metchie and his family that this decision was about more than just football.
“We talked a lot about the opportunity that I would have there,” he said. “Football is obviously important, but academically, after football, that’s the biggest thing and Penn State has a lot to offer from that perspective. But also, when it comes to football, we did talk about the impact I could make there. It’s a good position that I’ll be coming into if I went there.
“On top of that, when you look at what’s going on there currently, they have something special going on there. They’ve already had a lot of success on the field, so when you add in this last recruiting class and the one they’re bringing in this year, the future is bright at Penn State.”
After graduating from Saint James School in Hagerstown, Md., Metchie announced last month that he’ll be doing one semester of prep school at the Peddie School in New Jersey before enrolling at the college of his choice come January. Right now, the Lions sit in an excellent position, but there’s another school that’s grabbed his attention in recent months. In fact, he’ll visit that program for the first time this upcoming weekend.
“I’m going down to Alabama this upcoming weekend to get a better feel for them," Metchie said. "That’s also going to be an official visit. That’s the only other trip I have scheduled right now, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m looking forward to it.”
Since leaving Penn State, Metchie has only strengthened his relationship with former wide receiver coach Josh Gattis, who’s now part of the Alabama staff. Schools like Notre Dame and Michigan also have his interest, but it feels as if the Crimson Tide have emerged as PSU’s top competitor.