Penn State Lands Eighth Verbal

Penn State got a surprise eighth verbal commitment on Wednesday at the conclusion of the first session of their summer football camp. At noon on Wednesday, Jed Hill accepted a written offer from Joe Paterno while meeting with Coach Paterno in his office.

Jed wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen because he had missed all but one and a half games of his junior season because of a broken ankle. Hill (6’ 4”, 245 lbs., TE), from Struthers High, in Struthers, OH, was very impressive at Penn State’s first session of its summer football camp. He ran a 4.65 forty-yard time at the camp in cleats on the grass field outside of Holuba Hall.

According to Struthers head coach, Gary Zetts, Hill impressed Penn State assistant coach Jay Paterno. Zetts indicated that Hill runs consistent 4.6 forty-yard times on a track, and was being actively recruited by Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, Purdue, and most of the Big Ten schools.

“It really didn’t surprise me at all that Jed came away from Penn State’s camp with an offer from Coach Paterno,” said Zetts. “If Jed hadn’t suffered his broken ankle in our second game last fall, I believe he would have gone into this recruiting season as one of the top recruited TEs in the country.

“He’s an extremely strong kid. Recently, he bench-pressed 225 lbs. 27 times. I was told that at Penn State’s camp, he bench-pressed 225 lbs. 25 times.

“Nebraska had indicated that if he had attended their camp, they were prepared to offer him a scholarship. During the May evaluation period, we tried to get the word out about Jed, and I think close to thirty schools came in to see him this spring.

“Jed grew up a big Penn State fan, and when Coach Paterno offered him the scholarship, he didn’t hesitate at all.”

It appears that Penn State may try to sign as many as three TEs in its class of 2008.