Between the ongoing college-football conference media days and the immediacy at which sports fans expect to get their news, we already know a number of schools who have fessed up to contacting current Penn State football players.
Rich Rodriguez, Many Others Speaking With Current Penn State Players
We’ve heard from Tennessee’s Derek Dooley and Kansas’ Charlie Weis. Alabama’s Nick Saban said he would consider Nittany Lions players coming to Tuscaloosa “if somebody was interested,” and Baylor head coach Art Briles told attendees at the Big 12 Media Day that he has been approached by one current Penn State player.
But while a number of schools will certainly speak with players over the next month, Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez’s pitch could be the most interesting.
As the former head coach of the Michigan Wolverines and West Virginia Mountaineers, Rodriguez has plenty of experience and knowledge recruiting that Mid-Atlantic and Midwest part of the country. Despite Tucson being more than 2300 miles away from central Pennsylvania, it could be the Arizona Wildcats that emerge as a major player in the Penn State Sweepstakes.
Rodriguez was candid during the Pac -12 Media Day on Tuesday, saying he’s spoken with “a couple guys, because we know ‘em,” and added that his current Wildcats coaching staff knows “more than a dozen” players currently on the Nittany Lions’ roster, based on their time spent pounding the recruting trail in previous years.
He and his staff could position the opportunity as one of a fresh start. A move to a different part of the country that allows a player to work with a coaching staff with roots back east.
Who knows how many current Penn State players will actually transfer, there’s an argument to be made that Rodriguez’s Tucson oasis emerges as the most appealing.
For more on Nittany Lions football, visit SB Nation’s Penn State blog Black Shoe Diaries, plus Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire.
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