By Bill Kurelic, NN Recruiting Analyst

bkurelic@nittanynetwork.com

June 5, 2009

The Nittany Lions have landed commitments from the top three offensive line prospects in the state of Pennsylvania: Under Armour All-American Miles Dieffenbach, Tom Ricketts and Luke Graham.  They would love to add Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha and ESPNU 150 Watch List prospect Arie Kouandjio to that threesome.

The 6-foot-5 and 320-pound Kouandjio was a varsity starter at both offensive right tackle and defensive end his freshman year at Beltsville (Md.) High Point.  Kouandjio transferred to DeMatha and played on the defensive line his sophomore year.

Kouandjio played offensive left tackle his junior season and established himself as an elite line prospect.  He has a collection of three-dozen scholarship offers to prove it.  The list includes Penn State, Ohio State, LSU, Alabama, Cal, Notre Dame, Michigan, Maryland, Boston College, West Virginia, Connecticut and North Carolina.

“I’m interested in all the schools I have offers from,” Kouandjio said.  “I’ll try to take all my official visits, but I don’t know who any of them will be yet.”

Kouandjio attended the NIKE Football Training Camp at Penn State on May 2, though he did not work out.

“I liked it when I was there,” Kouandjio said on Thursday.  “I went around the campus.  It was pretty nice.  The stadium is pretty big.  I liked how big it is.”

The Nittany Lions did a spectacular job of recruiting the state of Maryland this past year and the key guy was assistant coach Larry Johnson.  Johnson is hoping to do the same this recruiting season.

“I talked to Penn State again not too long ago,” Kouandjio said.  “I talked to Coach Johnson the other night.  We talked about how everything is going.”

Kouandjio’s younger brother, Cyrus Kouandjio, is one of the country’s top class of 2011 line prospects.  The 6-foot-6 and 300-pound Cyrus already has six scholarship offers including Maryland and Pitt.  Like Arie, Cyrus attended the NIKE Football Training Camp at Penn State.  The Nittany Lions are very much aware of Cyrus too.