Rumors of a poor Penn State recruiting class were exaggerated

One well-regarded college football recruiting expert calls the fight for the high school prospects "a bloody battlefield" made even more chaotic by coaching changes, or rumors of changes.

Penn State experienced no alterations in its coaching staff, but the rumors were flying hot and heavy that there would be some, and that threatened to derail the Nittany Lions' late surge in filling its Class of 2011 with some excellent players.

Internet rumors insisted Joe Paterno would retire after the 2010 season (false) or, if he didn't, he would be head coach for only a portion of the player's four years. (True? False? Who knows?)

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley was reported to be looking into jobs at Pittsburgh and Connecticut (true) and, according to a TV station, he was offered the Pitt position (false).

All the reports and rumors didn't seem to affect Penn State, however, and the Nittany Lions officially welcomed a class of 16 players as incoming freshmen next season. Three of them changed their minds after their original school choices parted ways with their head coaches.

One player from that category announced his commitment Wednesday to Penn State. Defensive back Adrian Amos of Baltimore, who reconsidered an earlier oral promise to Connecticut after coach Randy Edsall resigned to take the Maryland job, visited Happy Valley last weekend and liked it enough to sign.

Earlier, wide receiver Bill Belton and linebacker Ben Kline committed to Penn State after changing their minds about attending Pittsburgh after coach Dave Wannstedt was fired.

The final numbers on two renowned recruiting websites showed Penn State ranked 34th nationally by Scout.com and No. 37 by Rivals.com. The Lions remained the sixth-ranked team in the Big Ten by both sites.

As it turned out, the only player who may have been a bit uncertain about whether Penn State would experience any coaching change was five-star defensive end Ishaq Williams of Brooklyn, N.Y., who committed to Notre Dame on Jan. 14.

The Nittany Lions received six commitments after their season ended at the Outback Bowl. One of them came from Belton, who said that he spoke with Paterno on the telephone the day before the bowl game.

"He told me he would be the coach for the next five years," Belton said.

Still, the general uncertainty about Paterno's future compels each of his assistant coaches to "do the job of two coaches" in recruiting, according to Mike Farrell, national and Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst for Rivals.com.

"It's a situation with countless disadvantages," Farrell said. "They have some advantages - Big Ten football, 100,000 people in the stands, great facilities.

"But with the rumors about Bradley and him taking some coaches with him [to Pitt or UConn], and the head coach not going into living rooms to close the deal with a recruit, it might have been a disaster."

The Nittany Lions loaded up at defensive end - locals Shawn Oakman of Penn Wood and Deion Barnes of Northeast are both four-star prospects - and along the offensive line. Surprisingly, however, they didn't net a single quarterback or running back.

The Lions are unstable at quarterback since two of their four scholarship players at the position - Rob Bolden and Kevin Newsome - have voiced their desire to transfer. Bolden was denied a release by Paterno shortly after the Outback Bowl.

At tailback, Penn State has only four scholarship players, including Brandon Beachum, who sat out all of last season following knee surgery, and Curtis Dukes, who owns just two career carries.