With temperatures outside in the single digits, it’s only fitting that Penn State’s winter sports are in full gear.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a look around the University Park campus and check in on some of the more popular winter sports. However, we’ll start with football and see where the Nittany Lions’ recruiting class ranks with National Letter-of-Intent Day just around the corner.
Lions Improve
For many months, it appeared the Nittany Lions recruiting class for the Class of 2011 would be one of the weakest in the Joe Paterno Era. However, a late flurry of activity has pushed the Lions into the top 40 of many rankings.
Penn State now has verbal commitments from 15 players. According to Scout.com, Penn State’s class is ranked at No. 34. Rivals.com, another recruiting service, has PSU at No. 35. A new recruiting site, 247sports.com only ranks the top 25 schools and Penn State is not among those.
Over the past several weeks, Penn State has picked up commitments from, Anthony Zettel (6-4, 255) from Michigan, Donovan Smith (6-7, 280) from Maryland and Ryan Nowicki (6-5, 280) from Arizona. All three are offensive linemen, which the Nittany Lions desperately need. Smith recently appeared in the Army All-American Bowl and chose the Lions over UCLA and North Carolina State. Zettel chose the Lions over Michigan and Michigan State. Nowicki picked PSU over USC and Oregon.
Penn State has also benefitted from the coaching change at the University of Pittsburgh. The Lions grabbed a pair of prospects from the Panthers. Linebacker Ben Kline (6-3, 225) of Dallastown chose the Lions over the Panthers, as did Bill Belton (5-10, 190), a speedy wide receiver from the New Jersey area.
The Nittany Lions have one early enrollee: Anthony Alosi (6-6, 280) an offensive lineman from New Jersey is already enrolled for the spring semester. Meanwhile, wideout Shyquawn Pullium from Erie Cathedral Prep is taking classes at Kiski Prep in an effort to get his grades in order before enrolling at Penn State.
With Feb. 2 rapidly approaching, it is unlikely that the Lions will land any other big-name recruits but there’s usually a surprise or two come signing day.
Stay tuned.
Lady Lions Roll
The Penn State women’s basketball team has been a pleasant surprise this winter. The Lady Lions posted another victory on Sunday, knocking off visiting Indiana at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State is now 16-5 overall, 5-2 in the Big Ten.
Head coach Coquese Washington has watched her teams get off to fast starts in the past only to watch them fizzle down the stretch. This team, however, appears to be built differently. Two starters – Zhaque Gray and Alex Bentley – are averaging in double figures. Bentley is scoring nearly 15 points per game while Gray is averaging 11 points per contest. The Lady Lions are getting excellent leadership from senior Julia Trogele, who is averaging nearly nine points and seven rebounds per game. The biggest surprise has been true freshman Maggie Lucas who comes off the bench and is averaging nearly 17 points per game. She’s been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week six times already this season.
After that, however, the bench has failed to yield a ton of points. Freshman Ariel Edwards has scored 4.2 points per game and sophomore Marisa Wolfe has scored around three points per contest.
“I love our bench, but I still think we can get more out of them,” Washington said. “I think we still have got a lot of room for improvement. I think our bench has a lot more to give.”
Penn State has stumbled just twice in conference play. Last week, they came out flat and fell at Purdue, 79-69. However, they bounced back nicely with Sunday’s win over the Hoosiers. It was played in front of a sparse crowd at the BJC, probably due to the fact that the NFL Conference Championships were on television.
Penn State is gunning for a berth in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Jordan Center will play host to a couple of rounds come March. At the beginning of the season, Washington said that her squad’s goal was to be playing in the games, not watching them.
Tough Loss
On the men’s side, the Nittany Lions (10-8 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) suffered a tough one-point loss at Purdue last week. They’ll look to get back on the winning track tomorrow night when Iowa (8-11 overall, 1-6 Big Ten) visits the BJC. On paper, it looks like an easy win for the Nits.
The big game on the slate this week, though, comes on Saturday when Bo Ryan’s Wisconsin Badgers visit the BJC. Wisconsin is ranked at No. 17 and enter the game with an impressive 15-4 overall mark. The Badgers are 5-2 in the Big Ten.
Believe it or not, the Nittany Lions can make a run at coach Ed DeChellis’ first appearance in the NCAA tourney. While their RPI is not terrific, the wins over ranked teams will help come March. First, though, the Lions have to take care of business as far as the rest of their schedule is concerned.
Lions New No. 1
The Penn State wrestling team is now 13-0 under second-year coach Cael Sanderson. However, the big news out of Happy Valley this week is the fact that the Nittany Lions have displaced Cornell as the No. 1 team in the country, according to the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll. Penn State has 275 points, while No. 2 Cornell has 263.
Clearfield native Brad Pataky is 7-2 this season with two pins, two techs and a major. He is ranked at No. 11 in the 125-pound weight class.
Chris Morelli is a writer/editor who lives in Centre County and covers Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com. Also, be sure to check out Morelli OnLion on Facebook!