BROOKLINE — As a small crowd congregated exterior the Kraft Fieldhouse and Fusco Arena Friday, Liam Andrews felt a singular pleasure. Maybe even some nerves.
The Dexter Southfield soccer star was set to make his highly-anticipated school dedication. When the doorways opened, a swath of his fellow teammates and buddies approached, ready with bated breath.
After narrowing his lengthy listing of choices to 3 faculties, the four-star lineman selected Penn State.
“It feels incredible,” Andrews mentioned. “Like I mentioned about 50 times, this is a dream come true for me. Ever since I started playing football, it’s been my dream to play at the highest of levels. So, I’m shooting for the NFL, but the first stop is college ball. So, it’s a dream come true for me.”
The dedication ends an extended recruiting course of that dates to Andrews’ sophomore yr. Shortly after his switch from Bishop Fenwick, Casey Day and his coaches at Dexter Southfield acknowledged that they had a particular expertise. So did just a few school scouts, as he quickly started receiving affords.
According to 247Sports, which tracks school recruits throughout the nation, 22 faculties and universities prolonged affords to Andrews.
“He’s on that short list,” mentioned Day. “My first two years here, we had a kid, Abner Logan, who played in some NFL camps, played at Maryland. Obviously, Liam’s got a ways to go before he can hang his hat on stuff like that, but he’s at the top of the list with some of those guys.”
Ultimately, Andrews trimmed his choices to South Carolina, Wisconsin and Penn State. When he chosen the hat bearing the Nittany Lions brand, the gang burst into applause.
“The (people) are all real,” Andrews mentioned. “During this recruiting gig, a lot of coaches will act one way on a visit, another way on the phone. It’s inconsistent. Coach (James) Franklin, Coach (Deion) Barnes, Coach (Chuck) Losey, literally everybody on the staff is the same, everytime you talk to them. So, just the consistency of the people, and how thoughtful and caring the people are (made the difference). They care more about you as a human being than a football player. That’s really important to me, because that is who you are at the end of the day.”
So what can Penn State followers really count on when Andrews arrives at State College?
“They’re obviously going to be getting a kid who is very talented athletically,” Day mentioned. “But something that separates Liam I think from the pack is the motor he plays with. The level of violence, and power he plays with. It’s something that our coaching staff talks about. I mean, I don’t want to call him a football savant, but as far as line play is concerned, he’s about as intelligent of a player that we’ve ever had in this program.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com