Penn State’s 2011 Recruits
Two weeks ago (give or take) NCAA Women’s Volleyball teams were first able to sign 2011 high school seniors to a National Letter of Intent (which the NCAA defines as “the document a prospective student-athlete signs when he or she agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year.”)
Three high school seniors signed with Penn State: Aiyana Whitney, a 6-5 Opp/MH from Old Tappan, New Jersey, 6-3 MH/OH Nia Grant, from Howland High School, Warren Ohio, and 5-5 L/DS Dominique Gonzalez, from Sandra Day O’Connor High School, Helotes, Texas.
- Aiyana Whitney, 6-5 Opp/MH from Old Tappan, New Jersey
Whitney, a 2010 Top-20 Prep Volleyball Senior Ace, led Old Tappan to 25 straight wins over New Jersey opponents this season, which was capped off by Old Tappan’s first-ever state championship when it won the finals of the Tournament of Champions. For the season, Whitney totaled 381 kills (7.3 kps), 46 aces (.9 aps), and 121 digs (her matches were best-two-of-three). She was selected for the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Training Team in 2009.
In a September 29th interview in NewJersey.com, Whitney told Andy Vasquez that her serve is one of the weaker parts of her game. She then proceeded to serve up seven aces to lead Old Tappan to a 25-17, 28-26 win over rival Ramapo. As Old Tappan coach Melissa Landeck told Vasquez:
Everyone sees [Whitney’s] hitting and the blocking. But her serving … you just can’t say enough about that part of her game.
In an interview by Gordon Brunskill in the Centre Daily Times after Whitney signed, Penn State Head Coach Russ Rose focused on her skill level:
Aiyana’s a skilled net player, but she has good ball-handling skills, a nice serve, she blocks well. . . . We’ve had her in camp and she’s a good prospect with a big frame.
- Nia Grant, 6-3 MH/OH, Howland High School, Warren Ohio
Nia Grant, who earned All State honors in 2009 and 2010, signed her letter of intent on Thursday, November 11th, at her high school. According to an article in by Tim Cleveland in the Tribune Chronicle online , Grant chose Penn State “over programs “such as Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Notre Dame and Xavier. . . .”
What sold Grant on Penn State? In the Tribune Chronicle online article, she cited the atmosphere (“everybody there is like one big family,”) and Penn State’s nursing program, a career she wants to pursue. And the lure of the four-time NCAA champions clearly was important:
Of course, they have the top volleyball program, which helps.
Her coach at Howland, Jose Jimenez, gives Grant high marks and high praise. In the Tribune Chronicle online article, he described her as “top-rated, ” and “extremely dedicated and hard working.” Grant also played for the Pittsburgh Renaissance Volleyball Club (the same club team as Penn State’s 6-5 Sr. Opp. Blair Brown and assistant coach Kaleena Walters). In his interview with Gordon Brunskill, Coach Rose described Grant, who reportedly can touch 10-6, as “very athletic.”
She plays high. I think she can play middle or outside.
- Dominique Gonzalez, 5-5 L/DS, Sandra Day O’Connor High School, Heliotes, Texas
In 2009, Gonzalez totaled 556 digs and 38 aces for Sandra Day O’Connor High School and was named to the San Antonio Express Area Super Team and the TGCA Class 5A All-State team, and in 2010 was one of 11 Texans named by PrepVolleyball.com as a 2010 Defensive Dandy “Dandy Lion.” And we think she’ll be just that. According to the Centre Daily Times, Gonzalez is Penn State’s first women’s volleyball recruit from Texas since Mishka Levy, a member of the 1999- 2002 teams (who averaged 3.66 kps on .303 hitting in 2002). Coach Rose describes Gonzalez as “a very skilled backrow player with the ability to both set as well as compete for the libero position” and says she has “a good nose for the ball and plays the game hard.”
Recruiting Look-back: 2004 to 2009
Whitney, Grant and Gonzalez represent Penn State’s future, and it certainly looks bright — at least potentially. But potential is just that — it takes hard work, perserverence, good coaching, and a bit of luck for potential to translate into on-the-court success.
Which got us thinking about past recruiting at Penn State and other elite programs. So we decided to take a look at some past recruiting classes — specifically, the classes from 2004 to 2009 that were signed by Florida, Nebraska, Penn State, Stanford, Texas, and USC.
We chose those programs because they are all counted among the premier programs in the country, year-in and year-out, and chose that time frame because it allowed us to look at at least four classes for each of the 2007, 2008, and 2009 seasons — which, not coincidentally, are the seasons in which Penn State won its three consecutive NCAA Championships.
We limited the pool of recruits to players who were ranked in the top 20 of their respective classes by prepvolleyball.com (as reported by the schools themselves or other publicly available sources). We broke this down into “Top-5,” “6-10,” and “10-20” groupings, which were based primarily on the prepvolleyball.com rankings, modified on one occasion by other accolades the player received during their junior and senior years. We’ve also listed other accolades and international competition experience.
What did we learn? Nothing earth shattering. But we think the tables below dispel the notion that Penn State’s success was all about recruiting. Certainly, the Nittany Lions signed their share of players who were viewed as future stars — whether viewed in hindsight or from the perspective of their junior and senior years in high school, Nicole Fawcett, Christa Harmotto, Megan Hodge, Alisha Glass, Arielle Wilson, Blair Brown, and Darcy Dorton all were elite recruits.
But, as the charts below illustrate, several schools recruited just as well or better (based on the perceptions at the time, not hindsight). Other factors obviously played an important role. At USC, for example, injuries took a heavy toll. Other schools had injuries too, and transfers out (and in). The role of good coaching — the ability to meld strong-willed, individual stars into a cohesive team that plays together and makes individual sacrifices for the good of the team — can’t be underestimated (and this isn’t a knock on the coaches of any of these six schools — they’re all great coaches). And then there’s luck — a bad (or lucky) bounce here, a near miss (or just in bounds) hit there.
The point is, it’s not all about recruiting — or at least, not about the subjective ratings of high school players who have not yet played a single minute for a college team.
So take a look at the tables below and reach your own conclusions. As we said, there’s nothing earth shaking here. But we found it interesting.