Effner Joins 2018 Class

Penn State added its third offensive lineman to the Class of 2018 Saturday in Aurora, Ill., native Bryce Effner.

A 6-foot-5, 270 pound tackle, Effner earned an offer from the Nittany Lions back in March, just two days after he visited with James Franklin and his coaching staff for the first time. He was then planning to return to State College for the Blue-White Game, but was forced to postpone due to a schedule conflict.

"I've just been thinking about it more and more," Effner said. "I felt like everything kind of slowed for me recently and I really started looking at all of my options. The more I looked at everything, I just thought to myself, 'what am I doing?' I always knew Penn State was the school.

"It was always the obvious choice for me and I was comfortable with it. So, why not go for it?"

In just the past few months, Effner has seen his scholarships count grow to 15 schools. Some notable programs include Duke, Kansas State, Minnesota, Missouri and Syracuse. He also took unofficial visits to Duke, Illinois, North Carolina and Northwestern.

However, all he needed was one trip to University Park to make up his mind.

"I'll never forget when I went to dinner with Coach Limegrover, Coach Rahne and a few recruiting (assistants). We were just sitting there, eating dinner and they made me feel so comfortable. They really made me feel like family. That entire visit was just excellent. It really stuck with me."

Blue-White Illustrated will have much more on Effner in the coming days.