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Penn State freshmen playing early, Rappleyea commits: BWI Daily

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby:Thomas Frank Carr•04/04/22•

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Penn State football has a new (ish) tool that is helping freshmen shorten the learning curve headed into college. (Ryan Snyder/BWI)

Penn State football took a two-month hiatus between commitments, but they finally snagged another player for the Class of 2023 in four-star tight end, Andrew Rappleyea. Recruiting insider Ryan Snyder joins host Thomas Frank Carr to discuss how the New England product landed at Penn State.

After that, T-Frank discusses something interesting James Franklin said last week that piqued his interest. Franklin mentioned that the Penn State staff uses zoom to communicate with committed freshmen that aren’t enrolled early. How does that change who can play early in their career? Finally, T-Frank dives into that.

Penn State flips Andrew Rappleyea

First, Snyder digs into what happened with Raappleyea, who flipped his commitment from Michigan to the Nittany Lions on Sunday morning. Snyder tells T-Frank the story of how Penn State had four tight end prospects and how Raappleyea, through no fault of his own, found himself on the outside looking in.

Next, he goes through the events that happened since then that have opened the door for Rappleyea to join the Class of ’23. Then, Snyder gives some insight into his conversation with the senior tight end this weekend and how he finally decided to flip schools.

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Lastly, T-Frank gives his initial impressions of Rappleyea’s skills as a football player. He’s incredibly impressed and even compares him to an early version of a former New England tight end who found success at Penn State.

Freshmen who can play early

After thanking Ryan for joining him on the show, T-Frank goes solo to discuss something Penn State head coach James Franklin said last week. Franklin mentioned that the team uses Zoom to communicate with freshmen who don’t enroll early. The goal is to teach them the offense and the schemes that they need to know along with the team in spring football.

How does that change which players T-Frank thinks can contribute early in their career?

Drastically.

So, T-Frank gives five freshmen who aren’t on campus right now that can contribute next fall if they can learn the things they need to via Zoom. But, of course, he isn’t counting the players already on campus.

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