Aniti Paiva still has more than half a year before he has to make a decision, but right now, Penn State is the favorite in his recruiting.
Lions247 first reported this last week, and Paiva confirmed it with Nittany Sports Now.
“I’m still trying to get more eyes on me,” Paiva told NSN, “but Penn State is most definitely my top right now.
Paiva, a three-star defensive tackle from Skyline High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, has 12 offers, a number he considers low, and of the 12, Penn State is the biggest program, with others being from schools such as Arizona. Boise State, Oregon State and Washington State.
Does this put a chip on his shoulder? Absolutely.
“I see a lot of players that I think I’m better than getting big offers,” Paiva said. “So it kind of motivates me to do better and try to beat them.”
Paiva already has the attention of Penn State and defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe.
PSU has made size on the interior defensive line a priority already during first-year coach Matt Campbell’s tenure, with the program signing four transfers who are above 300 pounds.
Paiva stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 320 pounds.
“All they’re telling me that I’ll play in this scheme is exactly how I want to play,” Paiva said, “is from a true nose to inside shade of the guard or tackle, and that’s how I’ve always really played throughout my career. But they also say that I can sometimes move out to a nine (technique) in case the NFL, the thirty-two NFL teams ask to see some on that.”
Malloe has been the main coach recruiting Paiva, and he was curious about Malloe’s coaching style before he visited spring practice this past Wednesday.
“I was wondering how Coach Malloe was coaching them, if he’s really close with the players, like how he says,” Paiva said, and then after the visit, kind of answered all my questions.”
It turned out that what Paiva had heard had been correct.
Paiva was also impressed by Campbell and got positive feedback about his relatable nature.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“They told me that Coach Campbell doesn’t even feel like a head coach sometimes,” Paiva said, “and they feel like super comfortable around him.”
Paiva described defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn as a “super technical coach.”
“He’s not really loud, but he’s really technical about how he runs his defense and how he treats the linemen,” Paiva said.
State College is a long way from Salt Lake City, and some recruits would see it as a deterrent.
Paiva sees it as the opposite.
“I would much rather play on the east side than the west side,” Paiva said, “just to see how I match up against them. ‘Cause I heard that the east side has like tougher boys over there. I just would like to test my abilities on that side.”
Penn State being located in a small town is also something that could turn recruits off of it.
But Paiva prefers a small town, with his family having moved from Portland, Oregon, where Paiva was born, and Las Vegas, where the family got stuck in during COVID-19, because they wanted to get away from the big cities.
Right now, Penn State is the only school where Paiva has an official visit scheduled (June 12-14).
“I am looking forward to seeing more of the facility and seeing more of how they treat me and my family,” he said, “And how they keep communicating throughout the whole process until he gets to that point.”
A lot can change between now and December’s Early Signing Day, which is scheduled for Dec. 4.
But right now, Penn State is the clear favorite for Paiva.
“It’ll be my top (school) for a while,” he said. “It’ll be hard to beat that.”
