Nittany Lions Receive Verbal from O’Connor

Penn State’s 2012 recruiting class got a much needed boost today when Joey O’Connor, a 3 star OT from Windsor, CO, announced his intentions to don the blue and white next fall. At 6’5’’, 285 pounds, O’Connor is a high motor player who has the frame to put on some good weight once he gets to State College.

O’Connor was a heavily recruited prospect. Along with Penn State, he received offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, Tennessee, UCLA and Utah. Joey must have really liked what he heard from and saw in Penn State, since it was enough to pry him away from his home state schools and Utah, which he visited earlier this month.

Here is part of O’Connor’s player evaluation from his Scout.com page. He is ranked as the #39 OT prospect in the class of 2012:

“Currently plays left tackle but is better suited for right tackle or a move inside to guard. Uses his hands well, has good feet and athletic ability. Has a frame to be a 300+ pounder.”

O’Connor becomes the 11th player to commit to the Nittany Lions, and the 5th player on the offensive line. He joins an already impressive crop of offensive line commits that include J.J. Denman (OT), Brian Gaia (OG) and Anthony Stanko (OG). Penn State fans will certainly be happy with this one, especially after recent offers to Derek Dowrey and Austin Johnson raised questions amongst the fanbase because the two have yet to be ranked by recruiting services.

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