Penn State has a history of developing players from DeMatha, and if all goes to plan, James Franklin and his staff are hoping KJ Winston is the next in that line.

A 6-foot-2, 190-pound safety prospect, Winston was just on campus this weekend for his official visit and it didn’t disappoint. He said there were a variety of things that stood out, but he really enjoyed his time with the current players, especially his host, Keaton Ellis.

“So the first thing, for me, is that it goes past the coaches. It’s all about the people around you and the guys I’ll be around all the time is the players. That’s who I’ll be playing with and hanging out with, and those guys made me feel like part of the team. I felt that from the moment I walked in,” Winston said.

Related: Early reactions from Penn State's official visit weekend

“My host was Keaton and the first thing he did was take me around to all the guys. They live in this place called ‘The Yard,’ and everyone there was talking to me like I was already part of the team. It really felt like a family, and this was away from the coaches, so you know they weren’t putting on a front and just trying to recruit me. It was just real genuine, like I’m already family, so that was one of the things I really liked. Everyone was really cool.”

Winston said that his parents were also impressed with the entire visit, but if they had to mention one thing, it would be the time they spent with new safeties coach Anthony Poindexter.

“My parents, they really liked my position coach, Coach Dex,” he said. “The thing about him is that we didn’t know that he was that funny. But we really liked hanging out with him. Coach [Alan Zemaitis] and all the coaches were real cool. My parents really liked that it didn’t feel forced or anything like that. We were just talking to them like friends, so it felt comfortable. Just everything there feels a lot like a family. So, we really liked that part about it. If my parents are sending me off somewhere, they want to send me to people that I feel comfortable around, where I feel like a family. They feel very comfortable with Penn State.”

Of course, with this being his first visit ever to Penn State, that means its was also his first opportunity to really spend extended time with head coach James Franklin. As expected, Franklin impressed.

“Yeah, I love Coach Franklin man,” Winston said. “He has that high energy all the time. It was great being around him and finally seeing him in person. Everyone there told me that he’s not doing this just because you guys are here on a visit. They said he’s like that all the time and I believe it. I believe the athletes up there and everything they were saying. We had a lot of good downtime with the players and I feel like that’s when you get the real story. That was some of my favorite parts of the trip. But yeah, all the players called Coach Franklin the man, so that’s great.”

Winston earned 20 scholarship offers throughout his recruitment, but he’s primarily focused on four schools now. His first visit went to Michigan State last weekend, and now he has trips scheduled to Maryland (June 18-20) and Notre Dame (June 25-27).

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