Lamont Wade to Penn State: Nittany Lions Land 5-Star CB Prospect

Class of 2017 5-star cornerback prospect Lamont Wade announced on Saturday that he's committing to Penn State, per Adam Friedman of Rivals.com. 

He explained his decision shortly after his big reveal, via Friedman:

"

They have good academics and they just won the Big Ten Championship. I’ve known those coaches over there for a long time and I like them a lot. I think they’ll be able to develop me and take care of me. I can get on the field and make an impact on offense, defense and special teams.

"

According to Scout's recruiting rankings, Wade is the No. 1 cornerback prospect coming out of the state of Pennsylvania, where he attended Clairton High School. Wade is also the third-ranked cornerback in the entire nation and the No. 17 prospect overall.  

He has decent size for a corner—listed by Scout at 5'10 ½", 180 pounds—and brings a versatile style of play to the position. 

Starting high school as a halfback, Wade has the speed and agility to keep up with some of the fastest receivers. If he does get beat on initial routes, he has the recovery speed to make up the distance lost and still make a play. 

Wade also has the solid football sense to know where the play is developing; he can make a play on the receiver legally even if he has his back turned from the quarterback. 

Per Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the cornerback had a few favorite schools in his junior year. After receiving 16 scholarship offers during the 2015 season, Wade said: "I guess you could say I’m showing a lot of love for Ohio State, UCLA, Pitt, West Virginia and Penn State. Those are the main schools I like and are recruiting me the hardest."

But it was Penn State that got his signature despite a late push by Tennessee, which landed in his top five on November 17.

Having visited the school once for its Blue-White Game in April 2016, Wade made an official visit to Penn State on Nov. 5. 

The spring game was what made such a large impact on him, as he told Greg Pickel of PennLive: "It was real exciting. [The crowd] was crazy, for a spring game. A lot of the fans love, love from the coaches, the whole nine [yards]."

He went on to explain what he was looking for off the field in a school: "I'm looking to have a good degree and looking to be taken care of if anything happens and I'm not a football player at that school. Just good people around the program and great academics."

This is a Penn State program in the midst of a magical season considering where it was just a few years ago. Now with the acquisition of such a stellar defensive back, the Nittany Lions could come back even stronger in 2017 after their Rose Bowl appearance this winter. 

Stats courtesy of NCAA.com and recruiting information and star rankings courtesy of Scout unless noted otherwise.