Mid-Atlantic Mail: Penn State, DeBerry, Sweat

As we hit mid-October, official visit season is in full swing. Analysts can often get a feel from a visit schedule how a recruit is leaning. This week, we look at how those all-important visits are affecting Penn State, Ricky DeBerry, Josh Sweat and Rutgers. If you would like to be in the next Mid-Atlantic mailbag, reach out to Adam Friedman via Twitter.

@RivalsFriedman Realistically, out of the major targets for #PSU who do you see wearing the Blue/White next fall?- Dustin Young (@Dustin__Young) October 15, 2014

With Rivals100 quarterback Brandon Wimbush flipping to Notre Dame and Myles Hartsfield losing his scholarship, Penn State has plenty of big targets left in 2015 and plenty of room for more to jump aboard. First, let's take a look at current commits. Rivals250 defensive lineman Adam McLean has scheduled official visits to Ole Miss and Tennessee. They have a legitimate shot at flipping him but, at this point, it is more likely that McLean sticks with Penn State. There have been rumors of Jonathan Holland possibly taking official visits. He's said that he doesn't have any planned right now. It will be something to keep an eye on after the season.

Penn State is making major moves for some defensive back targets. Rivals100 Michigan commit Garrett Taylor has scheduled an official visit to Penn State and Rivals250 Ole Miss commit Ugo Amadi is very familiar with the Penn State staff from their days at Vanderbilt. Clemson commit Juwuan Briscoe just picked up a Penn State offer on Tuesday night and more targets will surely emerge.

It doesn't seem like the Penn State staff is in a huge hurry to replace Wimbush. Two of their top targets right now are Michigan commit Alex Malzone and California commit Ross Bowers. Don't forget about Rivals100 defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The Suffield (Conn.) Suffield Academy star has quietly gone about his business, but is still very high on Penn State.

To answer your question, Penn State will probably hold onto McLean and Holland and it looks like Wilkins is a virtual lock.

Rivals250 linebacker Ricky DeBerry took his third official visit last weekend to Texas A&M. He and his family really enjoyed the trip and peppered Kevin Sumlin with questions during their meeting. The Aggies did a very good job of putting their best foot forward.

Comfort and education are certainly important factors in DeBerry's decision, but a few other elements have emerged as make-or-break factors. The first and most well-known factor is the position each school wants DeBerry to play. He has made it very clear that he does not want to play defensive end. Schools that have even mentioned putting him on the defensive line are already working at a disadvantage. The second major factor is the housing situation at each school. Do the players live on campus or off? How many roommates will he have? Will he get his own room and bathroom? Finding the right housing setup will be key in DeBerry's final decision.

Sources say the three schools with the best chance of landing DeBerry's commitment are, in no order, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. It will be difficult for Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia or Virginia Tech to jump to the top of DeBerry's list, but not impossible. He is still planning on visiting Penn State for the Ohio State game and taking an official visit to Michigan State on Nov. 7 for the Ohio State game. The wild card here is Alabama. He had an official visit scheduled to see the Crimson Tide, but Nick Saban told DeBerry that he wanted to spend more one-on-one time with him, so they should reschedule for after the season. That visit still has not been rescheduled, but DeBerry would still like to visit for a game. DeBerry will be committed before Christmas, so teams are running out of time to make their move.

Earlier this week, five-star Josh Sweat announced that he has rescheduled his official visits. Georgia will host him on Nov. 14 for the Auburn game. Florida State will get their chance to impress Sweat on Nov. 21 when Boston College travels to Tallahassee. His last official visit will be to Virginia Tech for their rivalry game against Virginia.

Sweat remains ahead of schedule in his recovery after last week's surgery on his injured knee. Not much has changed since the report in last week's Around the Mid-Atlantic. His surgery was a success and his surgeon, one of the most respected in the industry, raved about Sweat's level of fitness and how it will help him speed up his recovery. As previously reported, Sweat will likely be back on the field by July and will be running again about two months before that.

The Hokies have to like that they will get Sweat's final official visit. If anything, that might give Virginia Tech a small advantage, but this will be one of the closest races of the 2015 class.

@RivalsFriedman hey what does rutgers have to do to get back in with top level recruits?#AskRivals- lovedagame (@hardwork89) October 14, 2014

The short answer is to keep winning games. The win over Michigan was huge. The atmosphere at that game and the Penn State game (even though Rutgers lost) was something that really caught the eye of all the recruits in attendance. The biggest thing is to win a couple games down the line. The rest of Rutgers' regular season goes like this: at Ohio State, at Nebraska, home against Wisconsin, home against Indiana, at Michigan State and at Maryland. How many wins are in there for Rutgers? That's something recruits like Kareem Walker, Rashan Gary and Jarrett Guarantano will be looking at.

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