Evans leads stars out of New York

The state of New York featured a handful of top talent this season, but much of the Rivals.com postseason New York top 20 decided to go out of state following the lead of recent stars like Mike Hart, Jason Gwaltney and Doug Worthington. Rush end Maurice Evans leads the way this year and will be taking his talents to Penn State.

The Nittany Lions were the big winner in the Empire State landing two of the top four players led by Christ The King's Evans. The four-star prospect moved up one spot after Vidal Hazelton transferred to Hargrave Military Academy and has been re-classified in the Virginia state rankings. Evans earned the distinction by showing impressive skills in the week leading up to the Army All-American Bowl. He then followed it up with a dominant performance in the game as he ran by offensive tackles.

Evans future teammate Andrew Quarless slid up a spot after an impressive senior year accounting for 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns. The future tight end should be a good one for Joe Paterno.

Future Notre Dame offensive tackle Eric Olsen moved from No. 4 to No. 2 after dominating competition on both sides of the football during his senior season.

Churchville-Chili running back Kevin Collier stayed at No. 3 after an impressive year in which he ran for 1,942 yards and 16 touchdowns. Collier should be very productive for Dave Wannstedt at Pitt in his run-oriented offense.

Rounding out the top five is defensive end McKenzie Mathews who is still up in the air between Boston College, Michigan and Pittsburgh. The three-star prospect moved up one spot after exploding this season with 97 tackles, 26 sacks and one interception.

Virginia's John-Kevin Dolce moved up a spot to No. 6 after a solid season with 84 tackles, 11 for loss and six sacks.

Michigan's John Ferrara jumped two spots to No. 7 after a successful senior year. The 6-foot-4, 268-pounder has good hands and impressive upper body strength that should be very helpful on the Wolverines line.

At No. 9, Rutgers-bound Blair Bines moved up a spot after a monster senior year in which he recorded 128 tackles, three sacks and one interception.

Syracuse was able to keep two in-state prospects at home as No. 8, linebacker Parker Cantey, and No. 10, wide receiver Mike Williams, both opted to stay close. Cantey is a quick linebacker who excels in pursuit while Williams is a big receiver at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds.

Duke landed the No. 11 player in the state in Tottenville's Abraham Kromah. He had a good senior season with 60 tackles and five interceptions.

The player that moved up the most has to be offensive guard Marlon Romulus. The 6-foot-3, 307-pound Rutgers commit wasn't rated in the preseason rankings and moved into the No. 17 spot after being named first team all-Long Island.