Miranda Recaps PSU Official

Future Penn State offensive lineman Michael Miranda took his official visit to Penn State two weeks ago for the game against Iowa.

A native of Stow, Ohio, Miranda is expected to be an early enrollee for the Nittany Lions. Since he’ll already be a student when the rest of the Class of 2017 takes its official visits in January, Penn State’s coaching staff decided to host Miranda and his family for the team’s final night game of the season.

“One of the main highlights of the trip was definitely all the time I got to spend with the coaches,” said Miranda. “It was definitely more personal than all the unofficial visits I’ve taken. I feel like I talked to basically every coach while I was there. It was just a good experience all-around. The team played great, the atmosphere was great. Everything about it was fun. There was a lot to love about it.”

In addition to Miranda, Penn State also hosted a few other Class of 2017 prospects for official visits that weekend, notably safety Lamont Wade and defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe. Miranda talked to each throughout the weekend.

“I didn’t really have to do much,” Miranda said. “Lamont, Elijah and all of those guys seemed to be having a great time. They were all very positive about everything and so were their parents, too. I could tell that it was a great experience for them, so I didn’t have to do a whole lot. I really just gave my opinion here and there, but that’s about it.”

Miranda went on to add, “To be honest, my dad is the best recruiter. (laughs) He loves to talk to other families about this stuff. When he starts talking about Penn State, he doesn’t stop. He’s definitely the best recruiter in the house.”

Following Penn State’s big win over the Hawkeyes, Miranda spent most of his night with freshman offensive lineman Michael Menet, as well as others. Then, on Sunday, he met with head coach James Franklin, offensive line coach Matt Limegrover and others.

“We talked a lot of football,” said Miranda, when asked about his second day on campus. “We talked about what they’re expecting from me moving forward, especially because I’ll be enrolling early. I’ll be moving in pretty soon. I’ll be enrolled in about two months, so we were mainly just talking about what they expect from me and how I can benefit from enrolling early. We talked about where they see me training at and different things like that.”

Miranda has been firmly committed to Penn State since April, as he verbally committed to the coaching staff a few days after his visit for the Blue-White Game. He never once wavered on that commitment, and now, after seeing how much the team has progressed in 2016, Miranda is excited to start contributing.

“It’s definitely great to see, especially because of the way they’re doing it,” Miranda said, when asked about the team’s success recently. “You can tell that they’re a very close team. They’re doing this for each other and for their coaches. It’s very easy to see that. Obviously, they’re a talented team, but that fight they have for each other is great. It’s a great sign because that’s the kind of team I want to play for. To see everything that’s happened this year, I’m just all the more excited to get going now.”

A three-star prospect, Miranda is currently the 14th-ranked offensive guard and the 14th-ranked prospect in Ohio for the Class of 2017. He earned more than a dozen offers before committing to the Nittany Lions. Boston College, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia were a few notable schools that offered.