Under first-year position coach Ryan Clanton, the Penn State offensive line is known as the “dogs,” and PSU is right in the hunt for a big-time OL recruiting target.
Carter Jones is a 6-foot-6, 295-pound OL from Virginia’s Poquoson High School. Penn State is among four schools in the mix for him.
The others are Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers, Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs and Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers.
One might notice that all three of the other schools are located down south. Penn State, well, isn’t, making PSU a geographical outlier.
So, why is Penn State the only eastern school in the hunt?
“It’s really just the people there have made it so special and unique,” Jones told Nittany Sports Now. “I think Coach (Matt) Campbell, the way that he’s built the program, I think that’s special. Coach Clanton and his player development, coming from Iowa State, that really attracts me.
“I really relate well to Coach Clanton and all of our similarities,” he said. “Really attracted to Penn State.
Penn State is big on Jones, too, and feels he has the “dog mentality.”
For Jones, playing in a Wing-T offense, where passing the ball is about as frequent as a man on the moon, leaves little choice but to become a dog.
“It’s like do or die,” Jones said. “You have to be physical. You have to love it, and you have to want to punish someone across from you. It’s really… that’s really all it is. The guy across from you, you really have to take control, because that’s when you see like you’re going at them, as hard as you can, every play. There’s really no pass setting; it’s just like hard-nosed football. So I think that’s why I fit really well into the dog mentality at Penn State.”
Although Jones hasn’t had much of a chance to pass block on Friday nights, he’s had opportunities to do so at camps, where he feels he’s “dominated.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Since the offense doesn’t require it, Jones hasn’t been developed much as a pass protector, and he feels this is an advantage, since he won’t have much to unlearn in college.
“The way (Clanton) wants to make my form the way he wants it to be,” Jones said, “I think that’ll be huge. It’s like the same thing as having a coach for hitting in baseball. You only want to have one coach, and it really helps your form when you are swinging.”
If Jones goes to Georgia, he’ll join a program that has developed six first-round picks at offensive tackle —where Jones projects to play in college —over the last nine years, with the most recent being Monroe Freeling, who went 19th overall to the Carolina Panthers this year.
If he goes to Tennessee, he’ll be playing for his favorite team growing up, as his mother was a graduate.
Clemson offered Jones early, doing so in June, and in picking Clemson, Jones would join a school that, like Georgia, just sent an offensive tackle to the first round (Clemson’s Blake Miller went No. 17 overall to the Detroit Lions).
Of the four finalists, Jones said there are two that are standing out, but didn’t name the two.
Both of 247Sports’ Crystal Ball projections have him committing to Clemson.
Jones said he wants to make his decision by mid-June, and Penn State is right in the recruiting mix.
“Penn State could definitely be a place for me,” Jones said. “They’re very high up there for me, and I’m really excited about Penn State and what Coach Campbell’s building.”
