Like new Penn State Head Football Coach Bill O’Brien didn’t already have his hands full replacing a legend in Joe Paterno and a staff that had been together for 20-35 years he also only had 3 weeks to put together a staff and to pull together a recruiting class that had already lost several very highly regarded verbal commitments and, oh by the way, prepare for the Super Bowl. Here at Philly Pressbox we asked our resident recuiting expert from College Football Coverage, Terry Howse, to provide the list of PSU recruits with a quick breakdown and his rating of the class as a whole.

“This was not your typical PSU class, for so many reasons, and there were some players that were lost because of the unfortunate circumstances that surround the program. At one time during this recruiting cycle, PSU was poised to sign a top 10-15 class with players such as Jaron Jones, Tommy Schutt, Armani Reeves and Joey O’Connor, all 4 star players as per Rivals and part of the Rivals 250 list. Jones ended up at ND and Schutt, Reeves and O’Connor all committed to rival OSU.”

“This class still has some quality players including 4 star WR Eugene Lewis, who was an all everything Athlete at Wyoming Valley. This kid could step in and provide some much needed excitement and explosiveness at WR. The other player that we feel could make an impact is Jamil Pollard from West Deptford in NJ. Great natural size at 6-5/280 and could develop into a solid player up front.”

National Rank: 50 Big Ten Ranking: 5^th Our Grade: D

For Temple Head Coach Steve Addazio this year he actually had a full year to get his recruiting house in order. At this time last year it was Addazio who was trying to play catch up. The Owls coming off 2 bowl games in the last 3 seasons, and should’ve gone the third year, are in a pretty nice position to bring in a good class. They have some major needs on the offensive line and must replace running back Bernard Pearce. Here’s Terry’s rundown:

“Temple signed 29 football players for the 2012 recruiting cycle. None more important than Jamie Gilmore, a 3 star RB from Citra Florida. Jamie had offers from some pretty good schools including South Florida, Maryland and Cincinnati. He’s an all-purpose back and ranked #9 in his segment by Rivals.com. Another quality player that Temple added to the roster was 3 star CB Nate Smith. A Philadelphia product that had offers from Michigan State and West Virginia. Nate is the #21 ranked CB in the country by Rivals.”

 Conference Rank: 1st –  Our Grade: B

For Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley 2011 was a tough season. The defending 1-AA National Champions struggled with youth all over the field but Talley has been around a long time and will get on top very quickly. Here’s the list of Wildcat recruits”

Committed – Not Yet Signed

Mike Burke                        WR                 6-3/205      ***                           NR

Austin Calitro                    LB                 6-2/220       ***                           NR

Mark Clements                 DB                 5-11/170                                       NR

Nico D’Angelo                    OL                6-4/270                                         NR

Corey Majors                    LB                 6-1/230         ***                          NR

Cameron McCurry           LB                 6-0/215         **                            NR

Aaron Wells                       RB                  5-8/185        **                            NR

TJ Wells                                LB                 6-2/225        **                           NR

The Penn Quakers are coming off a 5-5 season under Head Coach Al Bagnoli. The Quakers had been coming off back-to-back Ivy League Championships and struggled a bit with youth but Bagnoli has been in the coaching business a long time and will bring the Quakers back as he always has. They’ve adding a couple of QB’s in this class as they look toward the future.

Nolan Biegel                                LB       6-1/215                                     NR

Cameron Countryman              WR      6-0/170                **               NR

Tyler Drake                                 LB       6-2/206                **                  NR

Andrew Lisa                                QB       6-2/200                                     NR

Danill Lysenko                            OL       6-3/270                                     NR

Alex Mathews                             QB       6-3/205                   **                NR

Kenny Thomas                            DB       6-0/170                                      NR

Jack York                                     OL        6-2/259                 **                NR

Tyler Roth                                    LB       6-1/215                                       NR

A final recognition goes out to the former Temple coaching staff members now with the Miami Hurricanes. The “U” finished with #8 ranked recruiting class in the nation. Hats off to Al Golden, Mark D’Onofrio, Jethro Franklin, Paul Williams, Billy Furman, Tom Deahn, Sean Desei and Ryan McNamee. Great job in taking the Hurricanes back to national prominence.