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PSU getting its kicks out of Nordin

By Philip Cmor

pcmor@altoonamirror.com

When James Franklin arrived at Penn State, one of the first things he vowed to do was to dominate the state when it came to recruiting. Then it was the whole region he planned to dominate.

Now, it looks like the Nittany Lion football coach is trying to dominate the recruiting of kicking specialists.

The Lions landed another top-notch one on Friday morning, when place-kicker Quinn Nordin of Rockford, Mich. announced his intention to sign with Penn State. Nordin is rated as the top kicker in the country in the class of 2016 according to 247Sports composite rankings of all the major recruiting news outlets.

Penn State already had reeled in highly-rated Georgia punter Blake Gillikin three weeks ago.

“It’s a sign of the emphasis they put on special teams. These are two of the best in the country,” Lions247’s Sean Fitz said. “Ideally, you don’t stack a punter and a kicker in the same class, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Not a ton of kickers or punters get (scholarship) offers. If you offer a guy, you are offering him to come in and play (early).”

Nordin (pronounced nor-DEEN) announced his choice in style, posting a video on Twitter of him arriving on a small jet while wearing a Penn State jacket.

“My name is Quinn Nordin, and I’m committing to Penn State University. We are da pride 16,” Nordin said on the video before Sean “Diddy” Combs’ song “Coming Home” began to play.

“(Penn State’s) the perfect combination of academics, football – and – they also have some great ice cream,” Nordin said to the Detroit Free Press. “The people there are great. I just can’t get enough of them.”

Nordin picked Penn State over Michigan, Georgia and Michigan State. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Nordin, whose father played quarterback at Central Michigan and coached at Saginaw Valley, had 14 scholarship offers for football and reportedly another 13 for lacrosse.

“His offer list was insane for a kicker,” Fitz said. “Even an elite kicker like Anthony Fera only had like four or five, although they were from schools like Michigan and Ohio State. For him to have like 15 is unheard of.”

Over the last two years, Nordin has booted 17 field goals and 55 of his kickoffs went for touchbacks. He also is a solid punter.

“He has a strong leg, number one. When you can put that together with accuracy, you have something,” Fitz said. “You might be able to kick a 63-yard field goal once. But, if you can’t make a 45-yarder consistently, what good are you?”

With the graduation of Sam Ficken – who endured a very rocky start to his career but turned into one of the big weapons of the Penn State offense in 2014 – the Lions don’t have scholarship place-kicker on the roster for this fall. Walk-on Joe Julius probably has the upper hand to land the job right now.

Aside from hopefully filling a couple of key spots in the kicking game from 2016 through 2019, Fitz thought grabbing the commitments from Nordin and Gillikin had another positive to it.

“To get a punter from Georgia that Georgia offered and a kicker from Michigan that Michigan and Michigan State offered, that’s a big deal,” Fitz said.

Nordin’s commitment brings Penn State’s total number of players in its 2016 recruiting class to 16. That number may grow soon. With only about seven to nine scholarships still available, the coaching staff will host the “Lasch Bash” a big summer meet-and-greet type of gathering for prospects on July 18.

Many of the Lions’ current commitments will be in University Park that day. The event also is expected to attract a lot of top uncommitted talent from this class, as well as 2017. Washington, D.C. linebacker Aaron Hansford, Maryland linebacker Cam Brown, New Jersey athlete Jordan Fuller, Pittsburgh cornerback Damar Hamlin, Florida receiver Tre Nixon, Philadelphia linebacker Shaka Toney, Indiana quarterback Hunter Johnson, Pittsburgh linebacker David Adams and Pittsburgh safety Paris Ford are just a few of the top names expected to be on hand.

“When you get that many guys together that have an interest in Penn State, I think commitments will come,” Fitz said. “Positions are starting to fill up.”

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