Thursday evening, Pennsylvania 4A All-State offensive lineman Matt Lowry (6-6, 290) from Cardinal O'Hara High in Springfield, Pa., called up Penn State assistant coach Ron Vanderlinden and told him he wanted to be a Nittany Lion.

"My decision kind of even caught me by surprise," Lowry told BWI in an interview around 8:30 p.m. last night.

"When I went to Penn State for my visit I didn't think I was going to change my mind about Virginia. I just wanted to show myself I was making the right decision."

All that changed once Lowry arrived on Penn State's campus this past weekend for his official visit.

"I really wasn't thinking about Penn State until coach Vanderlinden called me a couple of weeks ago right after the holidays," Lowry said. "He asked me about our win over St. Joseph's Prep in the Philadelphia Catholic Championship game and then just asked me if I wanted to take a visit."

Lowry decided to take Vanderlinden's offer and told him he would come to Penn State for an official visit the weekend of Jan. 14-16.

"When we set up the official visit, I was told that Dan Connor would be my host because he was from my area," Lowry said. "I told him that was fine, but I mentioned the fact that Joe Toriello was a good friend of mine."

Toriello is a walk-on offensive lineman at Penn State, who played high school football at Upper Darby in suburban Philadelphia.

"When I told Vanderlinden Joe (Toriello) was a good friend of mine," Lowry said, "he told me Joe could be my host."

What impressed Lowry the most about Penn State was the academics.

"I liked everything about Penn State's business school, Lowry said, "I want to major in business and everything about their business school impressed me."

Another impressive part of his visit to Penn State was his breakfast Sunday morning with Joe Paterno.

"He presented me with a challenge," Lowry said. "He told me that if I'd come in and start right away as a freshman, Penn State had to be a pretty bad team."

"He didn't promise me anything except hard work."

Besides being named 4A All-State by the Associated Press following the 2004 season, Lowry was both an All-City and All-Area selection by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.

Back in March (2004) Lowry verbally committed to Virginia. He was recruited by Penn State, Maryland, Syracuse and had attended Notre Dame's summer football camp before he made his decision with Virginia this past March.

"I didn't want to have to bother with recruiting during my senior year," Lowry said. "When I committed to Virignia, Penn State quit recruiting me and I didn't hear from them until two weeks ago."

After visiting Penn State, Lowry fell in love with the place and he had a great time with his old friend (Toriello).

"Joe (Toriello) and me are good friends," Lowry said. "We played little league baseball and basketball growing up. I had a great time with him on campus."

"I just fell in love with Penn State. I felt totally comfortable and I knew right then, 'This was the place where I wanted to spend my next four years.'"