As one might expect from any well-schooled signal-caller, St. Joseph's Prep rising senior quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg surveyed the field and checked off to the matchup with which he was most comfortable.
In Mornhinweg's case, though, this was the middle of the summer and it involved choosing his future college instead of his favorite receiver.
Mornhinweg, the son of NFL coach Marty Mornhinweg, became the 11th member of Penn State's 2012 recruiting class when he announced he had selected the Lions over Tennessee and Stanford in a teleconference on Tuesday afternoon.
The younger Mornhinweg, who committed to Stanford back in his sophomore year but had second thoughts when Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh left to take over the reins of the San Francisco 49ers, also looked at Alabama, Miami, Illinois and Florida State, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"I simply stepped back and re-evaluated things. I'm really glad that I got to take a step back and look at Penn State," Mornhinweg said.
Mornhinweg cited academics and the Nittany Lions' tradition as the two major reasons he chose Penn State.
"I'm just really excited to play for one of the great coaches in the history of the game, " Mornhinweg said.
Mornhinweg went to Beaver Stadium with his mother to see a game last season, then returned to University Park last month with his father, the former head coach of the Detroit Lions and current Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator, for an unofficial visit to tour the campus and meet the coaches.
Mornhinweg is entering his third year as a two-way starter - he also plays safety and is considered athletic enough that he could move to that position should things not work out for him as a quarterback in college - for the Hawks. Last season, he completed 110 of 229 passes for 1,546 yards and 13 touchdowns on his way to being named first-team all-Catholic League Class AAAA and second-team all-Philadelphia. Considered a traditional dropback-style QB, he has thrown for more than 3,000 yards and 32 touchdowns while rushing for another 500 yards and 13 scores in his career.
Mornhinweg also starts for the Hawks' baseball team.
"He is the most talented quarterback I've ever coached," St. Joseph's coach Gabe Infante said. "He is a prolific passer, probably one of the greatest high school passers I've seen in my career. He's a highly respected member of our program, extremely well-liked in our community. He's a natural-born leader and an incredible competitor."
Barring transfers, Mornhinweg will be one of five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster when he arrives at Penn State, joining Matt McGloin, Rob Bolden, Kevin Newsome and Paul Jones.
"I have tremendous confidence in the [Penn State] coaches," Mornhinweg said. "Me and my dad got to watch a lot of film on them. We're real happy with the way they run their offense."
It was believed the Lions had an opportunity to reel in Connecticut defensive back Malik Golden as well on Tuesday. However, according to several Penn State recruiting websites, Golden's scheduled unofficial visit was postponed for two weeks by mutual decision.
Reportedly, Golden and his family were several hours into their trip to Penn State when the decision was made to reschedule. Golden is also looking at Iowa, Boston College and UConn.
