The first offer turned out to be the only one Joey O’Connor needed.
O’Connor, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound offensive lineman from Windsor High School, committed to Penn State this week, choosing the Nittany Lions among 11 total scholarship offers.
“When I got out there and I stepped on the campus, I just felt that this was the one that I wanted to be at.” said O’Connor, who will be a Windsor senior this fall.
O’Connor, the No. 4 prospect in The Denver Post’s in-state recruiting rankings for the class of 2012, is rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com.
Penn State was the first school to offer him a scholarship, doing so this spring. Soon after, other offers began to pour in.
He had originally planned to make his decision closer to signing day. Instead, O’Connor committed Tuesday night.
“It got kind of hectic with the letters everyday and the evaluation period, coaches coming out, talking to my coach, doing all the interviews,” O’Connor said. “But I enjoyed it, it wasn’t too stressful. I think if I did what I originally planned — which was to wait it out — I think it would’ve gotten a little too hectic and pretty stressful.”
O’Connor also had offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Arizona, Arizona State, California, South Carolina, Tennessee, UCLA, Utah and Washington State.
Ultimately, the lure of Happy Valley’s tradition helped him decide.
“Just the whole atmosphere of Penn State football and Penn State (as a) college — it’s just brotherhood and family,” he said. “It just stuck out. It just felt right.”
