Happy Valley is especially happy tonight after Bill O’Brien landed another verbal declaration from a top-flight Division-1 prospect in the 2013 recruiting class.
Adam Breneman, a 6’5, 220-pound tight end from Cedar Cliff High School in Cumberland County, issued a verbal declaration to Penn State Friday evening during a ceremony at his high school. Breneman chose the Nittany Lions over finalists Maryland, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
Recently, Penn State landed a declaration from Christian Hackenburg, a four-star prospect at quarterback from Forks Union Military Academy in Virginia. Hackenburg threw for more than 2,000 yards as a junior. Penn State has also received verbal declarations from a pair of three-star prospects – defensive end Garrett Sickels and cornerback Ross Douglas.
To date, none of Penn State’s four 2013 prospects to declare are ranked lower than No. 36 at their respective position.
During his recruiting process, Breneman amassed more than 30 scholarship offers. In addition to the four finalists, the Cedar Cliff standout also was offered by Alabama, Auburn, Boston College, California, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami (FL), Michigan, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northwestern, Pitt, Purdue, Rutgers, South Carolina, Stanford, Temple, Tennessee, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest, Washington and Wisconsin, among others.
Both national recruiting services Scout.com and Rivals.com rated Breneman as the No. 1 tight end prospect in the 2013 recruiting class. Rivals assigned Breneman a four-star rating (6.0 overall) while Scout rated Breneman as a five-star and one of three Keystone State prospects in the top slot among a recently released set of position-by-position rankings.
Breneman’s No. 1 ranking marks the second consecutive season a Mid-Penn Conference school has boasted one of the nation’s top prospects at any position. Noah Spence of Bishop McDevitt was Scout’s No. 1-ranked defensive end in the 2012 class. Spence is committed to Ohio State.
As a junior, Breneman hauled in 72 passes for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 15.6 yards per reception. That’s on top of 60 receptions for 863 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore, giving the Colts’ senior-to-be 1,983 career receiving yards and 20 touchdowns to date.
Cedar Cliff finished 9-3 overall in 2011, reaching the District 3 AAAA quarterfinals.
EasternPAFootball.com’s Josh Funk has contributed information appearing in this story.
