Snyder: Why On3 is the place to be for Penn State fans

We’ve all been there before. There’s a secret you really want to tell your friends, but for one reason or another, you can’t. This is my opportunity to finally tell the world.

Welcome to On3 Nittany Lion fans. This is going to be fun. 

If you don’t know Shannon Terry’s track record by now, impressive is an understatement. The creator of both Rivals.com and 247Sports, he’s as forward-thinking as they come. From the star system to the crystal ball and beyond, he and his team have had a major hand in creating the kind of site that I enjoy working for. More importantly, this is the site you all will enjoy reading.

Going into my first meeting with Shannon back in the spring, I knew he was creating something fans would love. However, seeing this database up close was something I’ll never forget. For years now, we’ve been tracking recruits throughout their high school careers, but at On3, we’re going to bring everything together in one place. This is going to be a one-stop shop, where Nittany Lion fans can track their favorite prospects not just to Penn State, but into the National Football League.

But that’s just where this all begins.

Within the coming months, On3 plans to build a database that goes incredibly deep. One thing I know Penn State fans are going to love is our high school and state databases that should be up and running in Q1 2022. Have you ever wondered which high schools send the most players to Penn State? We’re going to track that. You’re going to know things like the average star rating at DeMatha, as well as which colleges have had the most success at Imhotep Charter. Also, we’ll finally settle the debate in regards to where Pennsylvania really ranks among the best states at producing Division I talent. 

With name, image and likeness now becoming a major importance in recruiting, On3 is going track that as well. Between Twitter, Tik Tok and Instagram, some of Penn State’s current commits already have enough followers to make some serious money in the years to come. We’re going to tell you exactly how much their feeds are worth. Then, when they become the next Saquon Barkley, you’ll know where they stand compared to college football’s best players.

But I’d also be remiss to not mention the team we’ve built. Nate Bauer and Matt Herb have been incredible mentors to me. I was raw coming out of college. Those two, along with Phil Grosz, taught me how to be a pro. We all had options to go one way or another during this process, but we also knew we made a great team. BWI has also been given the opportunity to expand, and man, have we ever.

David Eckert and Greg Pickel have been incredible additions to this team.

I knew what David was all about when he was still in college. The guy came to us as a freshman wanting to work. That’s certainly not what I was doing at 18. He wrote for us all four years, while also holding the role as lead editor for the Daily Collegian. His work ethic is incredible. 

Pickel needs no introduction. He’s built his reputation over a decade now as one of the hardest workers on the beat. It doesn’t matter what the topic is: recruiting, football, wrestling, whatever. The guy knows how to not only present it perfectly, but get it out fans fast. I’ll never understand how he does it. Greg had an excellent job at PennLive, one that many wouldn’t have left. Yet, he put his trust into this project, knowing that we can build something special here. I can’t thank him enough for that. 

I can’t finish this without mentioning Thomas Frank Carr. Truth be told, T-Frank, as we call him, took this opportunity without knowing if he would be a full-time employee with us when we made this move. We added him in July knowing that he would be an excellent host for our podcasts and YouTube videos. However, if it didn’t take off and produce the kind of results we needed, we were unsure if he’d be able to stay on staff long-term. Talk about commitment. He put everything into our multimedia productions.

That’s where we have to also thank all of you. It’s your commitment to following our work that allowed us to lock T-Frank up as a full-time staff member. His previous work with Pro Football Focus brings the kind of analysis that no one else is doing on this beat. Anyone who’s seen his film evaluations knows that.

So here we are, our first day at our new host, On3.

You have our word that what you’ve seen from our team since it was completed in the summer is only going to grow and expand. We have all the bases covered to build the best Penn State Nittany Lion athletics site in the market, and we’re going to let our work do the talking. 

We appreciate all of you who have given us the opportunity in the past and look forward to those of you who plan to use our $1 sign up promotion as an opportunity to prove what our team is capable of. You’ll get an entire year for just a buck. You can’t beat that.

But enough talk, let’s get to work.