Fact or Fiction: Penn State should feel confident about Amare Snowden
Rivals national recruiting analyst Clint Cosgrove and national recruiting analyst Eric Lammers along with Tim O'Halloran of Edgytim.com and Zach Libby of TheMaizeAndBlueReview.com tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
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1. Illinois will end up signing multiple top-10 in-state prospects in 2023.
Cosgrove's take: FACT. Bret Bielema has made recruiting the state of Illinois a priority and it is definitely starting to pay off. While it may take a few years before we see the true impact of the strides the Illini have made within the state, there is little question that they are trending in the right direction toward keeping the state's top talent at home. Illinois already has its first top-10 in-state commitment since 2019 in Rivals250 athlete Kaden Feagin. That means the program only needs to secure one more top commitment from the state to get multiple top-10 prospects in the 2023 class. The top 10 could likely change, so there is some speculation at this point, but I do believe the Illini are in play for Malik Elzy.
O'Halloran's take: FICTION. Illinois and head coach Bret Bielema have certainly begun to patch up relationships across the state and the program's overall focus on in-state recruiting has been admirable. The Illinois staff continues to grind and make big inroads. Several of the current Rivals state of Illinois top 10 uncommitted names have been drawing recruiting attention and offers in some cases going back to their freshman year in high school, which is a tough obstacle for Illinois in some cases to overcome. The good news? I see Illinois right now having much better odds of landing another name besides four-star Kaden Feagin than a year or two ago. Names such as four-star receiver Malik Elzy along with four-star offensive linemen Miles McVay and OL Paris Patterson all seem to have the Fighting Illini on their radar screen at this stage for now. Now, ask me this question a year from now about the in-state 2024 class, and I can see the Fighting Illini having a much better shot in what so far is shaping up to become a very strong overall class talent-wise.
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2. Penn State should feel confident about landing Rivals250 DB Amare Snowden.
Cosgrove's take: FICTION. I do feel that Penn State has as good of a shot as any program in Amare Snowden's top six, but I only felt "confident" in my recruiting days when I pretty much knew a recruit was going to commit. That is why I say fiction here. While Penn State should feel fairly good about their chances, especially with the Detroit connections that Snowden is drawn to, there are a lot of other teams in his top six that have similar things going for them.
"Sauce" is what Snowden told me when I asked why Cincinnati made his top six. People in Michigan remember Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner coming out of high school and many from the area saw greatness in him back then. His success at Cincinnati is a source of pride that many Michigan recruits would like to emulate. Kentucky has also done a great job recruiting Snowden and has a number of players with Detroit ties as well. Snowden has also connected with the defensive coordinators at Wisconsin and Iowa. Sowden's dad coached the recruiting coach from Howard in high school and they also have a great relationship. The wild card here is baseball and that is something Penn State would have in its favor. It is likely that Snowden plays both sports in college which would automatically eliminate Wisconsin and Howard.
Lammers' take: FACT. I'm not sure there is a clear cut leader for Snowden out of his recent top six by any means, but when Snowden rocked a pair of white Penn State gloves at the Rivals Camp Series in Indianapolis, the Nittany Lions making this cut was at least the expectation. Moving forward they certainly should feel confident about their chances with the Rivals250 defensive back but that doesn't mean it won't be a battle. For the Penn State staff, it has a few things to use as Snowden's recruitment moves forward and it starts with hammering the relationship between Snowden and co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter.
When Amare visited Happy Valley back in March he was essentially tied to the hip of "Coach Dex" and left that visit with high praise for not only the coaching staff but Penn State as a whole. Pair that with a trio of current Nittany Lions in Kalen and Kobe King, plus Jaylen Reed being from Detroit that Snowden specifically mentioned in his recent top six and there is reason to believe Snowden could be very comfortable picking Penn State. It's no slam dunk, but at the very least the staff should feel like it has enough in its tool bag to be a serious contender until the end.
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3. Dante Moore's recent visit to Michigan moves the needle for the Wolverines.
Cosgrove's take: FICTION. I do believe Michigan will be in it until the end and could even sign Dante Moore. At the same, I don't think a single visit can confirm or overcome that Michigan either is or isn't the school for him, especially when he has spent so much time around it. Moore knows the dynamics of college football coaching and his decision seems as though it will be based on a program level. The Michigan program is something Moore knows all about at this point. I see these visits as exploratory in nature, a time to see if Michigan feels like home and an opportunity to make sure he hasn't missed anything that may be important to his final decision. While Michigan should like its chances, the runs from Texas A&M, LSU and Notre Dame leave plenty up in the air at this point
Libby's take: FACT. Moore has been to Ann Arbor so many times before that it’s probably hard for him to even count the number of trips made since middle school. At this point, he’s seen everything that Michigan can offer him by remaining in-state and joining the program that offered him when he was a seventh grader. The biggest reason for this visit was for Moore to be alongside quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss the entire time while on campus. Weiss, in the past, has been lacking in finding a deeper connection with Moore, compared to the ones the five-star has with Ron Bellamy and Steve Clinkscale. I think for Weiss to be right at Moore’s hip and extending a more personal side to him proved beneficial in helping Michigan remain a leading contender . It wasn’t like Michigan was running way behind before but visits like this past weekend can push the Wolverines away from Notre Dame, LSU, Oregon and Texas A&M, who are all gunning hard for the Detroit (Mich.) King superstar. Michigan will always have the notion of it being the “Day 1s” in Moore’s recruitment and more bonding time with Weiss has certainly moved the needle with the spring nearing its end.