UNIVERSITY PARK - Bill O'Brien shed some light on his recruiting approach when he met with the press at Beaver Stadium on Monday's first day of spring practice.
"I want big, fast, physical football team here, so I don't want us to ever be wrong on measurements,'' O'Brien said. "The other thing is we want nine [coaches] working as one team, and not nine different corporations. We want nine guys thinking about the same things and what our needs are and the type of person we want to bring in.
"Right now, we're off to a good start in doing that.''
The Nittany Lions landed their sixth verbal commitment on Monday when Council Rock North 6-foot-5, 230-pound defensive end Curtis Cothran picked Penn State over Northwestern, Maryland, Purdue, Rutgers, UConn and Kent State after getting a scholarship offer from the Nittany Lions during a weekend unofficial visit. Cothran had four sacks last season but is considered to be on the cusp of realizing some very high potential.
Penn State may add to the commitment list this weekend when West Virginia receiver Ryan Switzer - his state's Gatorade player of the year - is scheduled to be in for another visit on Saturday, along with his friends and current Lion commits Adam Breneman and Christian Hackenberg. Penn State also is slated to entertain four-star running back David Williams from Philadelphia - a speedster who apparently is the Lions' No. 1 target at the position - and 315-pound Virginia defensive tackle Donta Wilkins.
In addition, New Jersey linebacker Buddy Brown is supposed to be in Happy Valley on Friday.
However, Penn Charter 6-foot-9 offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey is not anticipated to be on campus this weekend; the cousin of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan made a surprise pledge to Notre Dame after a trip to South Bend a few days ago.
Five of the Lions' six recruits so far have at least four-star ratings from one of the major scouting services.
"I feel good about recruiting,'' O'Brien said. "I feel good about where we are right now, but you never really know until they sign on the dotted line.
- Philip Cmor
