Curtis Cothran reaffirmed his Penn State commitment.
Watching television and reading national sports outlets, one would think that Penn State is hemorrhaging recruits due to the Sandusky scandal and ensuing Freeh report.
The truth is, however, that it doesn’t seem the case with any of the recruits so far and, in fact, Curtis Cothran reiterated his commitment today while at Chesapeake Bowl North Team Tryout Camp at Cardinal O’Hara High in Springfield, Pa.
Cothran, a 6-5, 245-pound, three-star defensive end out of Council Rock (Pa.) North committed to Penn State in March and said, without a doubt, that he still plans on attending Penn State and that he’s looking forward to it.
“Once I visited there I knew that’s where I wanted to go,” Cothran said. “I think Coach O’Brien is a great coach and I can’t wait to get there.”
Cothran echoed what fellow recruits Adam Breneman and Christian Hackenberg said two weeks ago.
“We want to start a new legacy at Penn State,” he said. “We want to go in and prove everybody wrong. Those guys feel exactly how I feel. This whole thing has nothing to do with us or our coaching staff. We just want to go in there and show everybody.”
The standout defensive end is ranked as the 20th best defensive end in the country by Rivals and the tenth best recruit in the state of Pennsylvania. Scout.com ranks him as the 54th best defensive end while 247Sports has Cothran ranked as the 45th best defensive end in the country.
Cothran said that even though the news has been terrible on air and in print, he has gotten great support locally.
“Around here, people are very supportive,” Cothran said. “They know that it’s a good school and that it’s a good place. This is something that is out of our control. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Cothran also says that he doesn’t feel any added pressure because of the scandal.
“I never really looked at it like we were going to save the school or anything,” he said. “It’s a great place and we just want to go up and turn the football program around.”
Cothran hopes to help lead Council Rock North to success during his senior season.
“I want to bulk up some and I want to do everything I can to help us get to the playoffs this year,” he said. “I want to enjoy my last high school season.”
For more information on eastern football recruiting, follow @EastRecruiting on Twitter or email marty.valania@easternfootballrecruiting.com.
