How Penn State football is keeping in contact with recruits amid coronavirus shutdowns and cancellations
The spread of COVID-19 has disrupted the sports world at every level. From the NBA to Little League baseball, sports across the nation have been canceled and postponed in effort to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
While almost every sport has been put on hold for the foreseeable future, college football trudges on with its lifeblood: recruiting.
Spring practices have been canceled and a mandatory dead period preventing in-person contact has been put in place, but colleges across the country continue to find ways to stay in contact with recruits, pitching them on what makes their school the best choice.
For Penn State, that means video chatting with players across the country, whether it’s over FaceTime, Zoom, or another video calling application, coaches have found a way to see recruits.
“I think FaceTime is as big as anything with the recruits right now,” Franklin said on a Zoom video conference with the media Wednesday afternoon. “(It’s about) finding ways to interact with them and (making sure) they see your face.”
While coaches maintain contact, it still doesn’t replicate the experience recruits can have when they’re on a school’s campus. Programs often host “junior days” during the spring, when their top targets from across the country visit their campus and interact with other recruits in their class, including players who are already committed.
Penn State and other schools missed out on that opportunity in this cycle.
“It’s challenging,” Franklin said. “I think this has been more challenging for the northeast schools than it is for most of the other schools in the country ... (Some schools) have had junior days ... We weren’t able to get recruits on campus like we normally are. Spring ball is a huge recruiting time for us.”
Without those visits it can be difficult for coaches to convince players to commit to their program, especially if they only recently earned a scholarship offer. The lack of visits can give coaches who have a longer relationship with recruits an advantage.
Fortunately for Penn State, they’ve long-recruited some of the best players in the country. That includes offensive tackle Nolan Rucci, a five-star recruit in the 2021 class with scholarship offers from Alabama, Clemson, LSU and Notre Dame, among others, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Rucci, out of Warwick High School in Lititz, is the No. 14 player in his class, according to those rankings, and the top player from Pennsylvania. The Nittany Lions have recruited the high school junior for several years and offered him a scholarship in September 2018.
He said the pandemic and ensuing social distancing has made his recruitment more complex.
“It’s definitely been difficult the past couple weeks,” Rucci told the Centre Daily Times. “I’m just trying to reschedule some things because this affects the spring recruiting period. It’s all kind of up in the air at the moment.”
The five-star recruit has picked up offers from Arizona State and Georgia in the last 11 days, but said not getting the chance to see schools he hasn’t visited yet, like schools recently offered, makes it hard for him to learn what the campus is like.
“I really want to see those places,” Rucci said. “That’s one of the biggest things. The more you know about a place the easier it is to make a decision about it. It’s tough being stuck at home when this would be a perfect time to go out and see these places.”
Penn State could have an advantage with a recruit like Rucci because their relationship with him already has a solid foundation. With that being said, the time off from school has allowed the high school junior to continue building relationships with all coaches. He spends a couple hours a day on the phone with coaches from across the country.
“I’ve definitely been in a lot more contact with a lot more coaches,” he said. “I can sit down and talk to more programs and learn more about them, so I think it’s been educational for me to talk to these coaches. Even getting on FaceTime with head coaches has been a really cool experience.”
The Nittany Lions have been great in dealing with the contact restrictions, according to Rucci. He’s maintained contact with the coaching staff, including new offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, who also speaks with Nolan’s father, Todd, who is the offensive line coach at Warwick High School.
Rucci can lean on his family in the recruiting process with his brother, Hayden, currently playing at Wisconsin, and his father having played at Penn State from 1988-92. While recruiting has changed drastically since his father played for the Nittany Lions, his familiarity with the school could aid Nolan’s search for the right fit in college.
“I really enjoy taking visits to Penn State,” the younger Rucci said. “I do know a lot about the place so it’s easier to make a decision about how I feel about it.”
Rucci may not be able to visit schools during the ongoing pandemic, but he’s hopeful he’ll be able to get back out on the road by the summer. Until then, schools like Penn State will continue to do their best to keep building a relationship with him and plenty of other top recruits in the country.
Because, unlike the rest of the sports world, recruiting never stops.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
