Five-star Wade excited to make impact at Penn State
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – In late September, Penn State visited Michigan and got shellacked by 39 points. It was ugly. It was embarrassing. And it was the last time the Nittany Lions lost this season.
Five-star cornerback Lamont Wade watched that game and thought maybe Penn State was not the right place for him.
Tennessee was looking strong – the Vols beat Florida on the same day – and the Clairton, Pa., standout talked to his mom about maybe Knoxville being his future home.
“After the Michigan game I was like (I don’t know),” Wade said about PSU.
“That’s when I was going down to Tennessee and I liked Tennessee a lot and I told my mom that Tennessee might be the place for me. Then Tennessee stopped recruiting me a little bit and Penn State started winning.”
Wade, who picked Penn State over West Virginia, UCLA, Pitt, Tennessee and many others, earlier this month, is the top-rated cornerback and ninth nationally in the 2017 class.
And he might be used in State College like Jabrill Peppers has been used in Ann Arbor.
“Nickel, corner, safety, punt returns, kick returns and the thing about Penn State is coach (Joe) Moorhead was also one of my biggest recruiters and he’s the offensive coordinator, so that shows me they want to use me on offense, too,” Wade said at the Under Armour All-America Game.
“That was huge. I could tell they actually mean it. Some people might have said it, but they meant it. I didn’t even know some other team’s offensive coordinators, so that meant a lot. Having an impact on a game in three different phases would be huge. I feel like I could make an immediate impact and change some games.”
Known for his recruiting capabilities, Penn State coach James Franklin wouldn’t back off – and wouldn’t back down – in the pursuit of Wade, Pennsylvania’s top prospect.
Perpetually positive and exceptionally excited, Franklin made Wade a top priority. As fellow Penn State commit CJ Thorpe describes it, Frankin’s recruiting style can be, well, a little over the top.
“They’re very, very aggressive, almost annoying how much they’re on you, just making sure you know how much they want you and they love you,” Thorpe said. “They’re very aggressive about it.”
It was clear to Wade, too, that he just wasn’t a piece to the puzzle. He was priority No. 1 to Franklin and his staff.
“Coach Franklin and coach Terry (Smith) came pretty hard,” Wade said. “They just let me know I couldn’t leave. They wouldn’t let me leave. They needed me in that class and the class was pretty good without me. Going there, I made the class a little bit better. They were consistent and persistent.”
Why wouldn’t they be? Wade has special tools to be a lockdown cornerback, he could move to safety, he definitely can have an impact on special teams and there’s no question he has the skill set to be a weapon in Moorhead’s new spread offense that worked wonderfully for the Nittany Lions this season.
Peppers is bigger but Wade has similar skills.
“The way he plays and the energy he brings to the game, you could see the kid playing a lot of snaps,” Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said.
“He has the ability to play offense, he’s fast, hard to tackle, good in the open field, could be a special teams guy and especially on defense he could play multiple positions. He’s not just a 5-foot-9 corner. He’s strong enough to play safety and he’s effective enough to play close to the line if they need him to.”
That September debacle at Michigan was not the end for Penn State. It was the beginning. Many believe the season really turned the following week when the Nittany Lions beat Minnesota in overtime.
Then they upset Ohio State. Then they rampaged through the Big Ten schedule right to the Big Ten championship, where they came from behind to take down Wisconsin. Now it’s on to the Rose Bowl against USC.
Penn State landed Wade along the way. Four-star quarterback commit Sean Clifford could not be more pleased by it all. And he credits Franklin for getting it done.
“He’s so ecstatic about what he does and he loves everything about Penn State and you feel that with the whole coaching staff,” Clifford said. “It’s a little over the top, but coach Franklin is an awesome guy.”
