With high school junior Michal Menet’s verbal commitment to James Franklin, Penn State has secured the top in-state recruit and locked in its ninth verbal commitment for the Class of 2016.
The 6-foot-5, 271-pound offensive lineman struggled to decide between the Nittany Lions and the Duke Blue Devils, but ultimately decided to stay in-state and close to home. His announcement came last Friday at a school assembly, after which he proudly announced that Penn State is “the place I want to be, and that’s where I will be.”
He added, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” seemingly standing firm in his choice to commit to the Nittany Lions.
Penn State fans should look at Menet’s national ranking and be thrilled. At surface-level, a Top 100, record-setting recruit looks great, but digging deeper into his stats reveals a goldmine: the answer to some of the Nittany Lions’ 2014 woes.
After giving up 44 sacks last season, Penn State desperately needs to recruit some offensive size and talent in the next few years.
Christian Hackenberg took constant beatings during the 2014 season, leading to turnovers and missed scoring opportunities. Fans were frustrated with the quarterback’s inconsistency, but with the team’s holey offensive line, there was only so much he could do in the face of the offensively intimidating teams of last season’s schedule.
Menet, and other recruits like Paris Palmer, Sterling Jenkins, and Chasz Wright, is the first step in solving this problem for the Lions.
Franklin’s biggest challenge was perhaps not the offensive line, but rather, the lack of it. The scholarship reductions from the NCAA sanctions and injuries to key players created an offensive line that relied on younger, inexperienced players in game after game.
Tie in some key losses like Miles Dieffenbach and Donovan Smith, and Penn State is left starved of big offensive talent.
Versatile players like Menet, who, in the words of his Exeter head coach Matt Bauer, “could probably play all five,” will give Franklin a badly needed offensive boost. Menet has the ability to be a multi-year starter at left tackle or, if all other resources are exhausted, to be an interior lineman. The possibilities for Menet at Penn State are endless.
If you add in Menet’s potential to physically grow, Penn State offensive coordinator Herb Hand will have a lot to work with. Although to the average onlooker, Menet’s 6-foot-5, 270-pound frame is imposing, he has acknowledged that he has room for improvement.
“One of my weakest points is probably just my size. I need to put on some weight.”
Further developing his already impressive size and keeping his speed will give Menet more depth, and therefore, more usefulness.
“He has amazing feet to play tackle, amazing agility to be an excellent guard, so I think wherever Coach Hand really needs someone, that Michal would fit in at any of those positions and excel. He’ll do what he needs to do to get bigger, stronger, and he’s already fast enough,” Bauer reaffirmed.
Menet’s verbal commitment gives Penn State something it hasn’t had in a few years – options. With the rapid rebuild of its reputation in the past three years and the 800-pound gorilla that James Franklin’s recruiting style has created, high-profile recruits are starting to seriously consider Penn State once again.
“I believe that I will win a championship at Penn State,” Menet said in response to his turning down schools like Ohio State, Alabama, and Arkansas in favor of the Nittany Lions, giving hope to Penn Staters that their beloved university is on the way to national dominance once again.
And on the backs of players like Michal Menet, it may well be.
Photo Credit: PennLive.com
