Penn's Picks

Nicholas Shablom

Penn became the third team to publish the list of itsincoming freshmen footballers. 

ASIDE: Isn’t it interesting that the three teams that shared the Ivy title last year are the only ones so far to publish their incoming player lists? Does this mean anything? Is this planned? Does this mean nothing? Probably.

Anyway, a quick look at the Penn list should ring a lot of bells for Columbia fans because the Quakers grabbed a lot of guys the Lions also offered for 2016. Of course, this happens to all the Ivy teams who are essentially all competing for the same small number of eligible and interested candidates. I add the word “interested” because the actual number of academically eligible football recruits is larger than we are always led to believe. The higher hurdle to clear is getting the interest of players who simply have not and likely will not every consider coming to play Ivy football. Then there are the people who won’t even consider going to a non-athletic scholarship school no matter how many times you tell them that significant financial aid is available. And then there are the people who are still so dead-set on playing only at a big FBS program and won’t give up on that dream.

Getting back to Penn. Some of the players on the Quaker list who caught my eye long before they committed to Ray Priore and Penn are:

6-5 210 pound QB Michael Collins, (looks like the real deal)

6-2 274 pound D-lineman Prince Emili (the rare Ivy commodity: a big DL)

6-3 270 pound D-lineman Alan “Ace’ Escobedo (ditto)

6-7 240 pound TE Nicholas Shablom (but will he play football and not lacrosse?)

Unlike the Harvard class, this group on paper looks pretty stellar. Why those websites that have been rating in the incoming FBS classes haven’t ranked this crop rather highly is beyond me.