Penn State loses another high-profile high school player
Offensive tackle Dorian Johnson of Belle Vernon, Pa., a four-star recruit, has informed Penn State coach Bill O'Brien that he has withdrawn his commitment for the freshman class of 2013.
Penn State loses another high-profile high school player
Joe Juliano
Penn State has lost another of its high-profile commitments, with offensive tackle Dorian Johnson of Belle Vernon High School near Pittsburgh having informed head coach Bill O’Brien that he will look elsewhere.
The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Johnson, whom Rivals rated as a four-star recruit and No. 23 among offensive tackles in the freshman class of 2013, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review he called O’Brien on Tuesday night to inform him of his decision.
“It was a real short conversation,” Johnson said. “He didn’t really say much. He did say he respected my decision and wished me luck.”
Johnson is the fifth member of Penn State’s anticipated class of 2013 to withdraw his commitment to the school, as players weigh their options given the harsh sanctions handed down by the NCAA to the university in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Those penalties included a four-year bowl ban, scholarship reductions and a $60 million fine.
“I wasn’t expecting all that,” Johnson told the Tribune-Review about the Penn State penalties. “The top two things were the bowl ban and the scholarship offers.”
Johnson said he will reconsider Pittsburgh and Ohio State, two of his original finalists, as well as Virginia Tech, according to the newspaper.
On Monday, wide receiver and linebacker Zach Bradshaw of Damascus, Md., notified O’Brien that he was decommitting. Bradshaw later committed to Virginia.
--Joe Juliano
Comments (36)
See you later guys. Keep running because the MEN that stay at PSU and honor their commitment, will be the true leaders of PSU and will be recognized for their dedication, hard work and the turn around at Penn State.— gbreen88- This comment has been deleted.— Owner of Junod
- Disagree. What will affect their futures negatively is the revealing of their true character of selfishness. I doubt that will bode well for them in the future. — essell
- All points are valid. under no circumstances should ANYONE conceal a rapist of any kind. That being said, and only speaking from a football perspective. i think the program will bounce back and feel it will bounce back stronger and regain a new identity, spearheaded by the new Coach. I think it will take at least 2-3 graduating classes before the program is back to National prominence. Just my opinion.— gbreen88
- Football wise, the program will bounce back in 8 to 10 years. That is how crippling these Sanctions are to any football Program. This was well calculated by the NCAA Bigwigs. They wanted to kill any chance of PSU having a competitive football team going forward. They even allowed for other Teams Coaches to poach current players off the PSU Campus. Given the severity of the Crimes and the Administrations coverup, you knew the hammer was coming. I doubt O'Brien will stay there longer than 2 years. He will tire of Big Ten Coaches running up the score on his squad. WE ARE.....NOW TEMPLE! YIKES!!! — cooperhawk
- Kind of ironic, the best college football team in PA is now in Philadelphia....Go Owls!!!— escaped to CA.
- gbreen88: I actually have to agree it is possible that PSU football will bounce back. USC is ranked first in national polls after completing its penalty phase. Of couse, the penalty to PSU is far greater than the one to USC and USC kept its young players, but bouncing back with a #1 ranking is not what people expected. The death penalty at SMU was followed by an unwillingness of the university leaders to push to restore the program to a national level. The PSU leadership will not follow suit; it will work hard to get the Lions back. I guess we will see a few years after the penalty phase is complete.— TR3
- I am more upset about the names being on the jersey— atleaglefan
- Can't wait 'til Temple STOMPS on PSU, because the deserve it going back a long long way!— petergou
Comment removed.- TR3
Was it always thus. Kinda makes you wonder what they teach in ethics classes at Penn State.— glenn15 - glenn15. No doubt. Clearly, the PSU football decisions were often in conflict with the standards of the academics.— TR3
- glenn15. No doubt. Clearly, the PSU football decisions were often in conflict with the standards of the academics.— TR3
- Not to pile on but...I would bet there is more still to be uncovered about PSU and JoePa that hasn't made it into the media. If PSU was willing to cover up for a pediphile in order to protect the image of its' football program, it's likely there are more skeletons in the closet as well. The amazing thing about all of this is that if PSU and JoePa had done the right thing from the beginning, JoePa may have been sainted and the football program would be turning away potential recruits. Instead, PSU's football program is a national embarassment that may never recover from this.— syddan26
- The top of the Big Ten is to good for Penn State to bounce back this decade. This season will be there best year. USC only got a two year bowl ban and players stuck around. Three star or better kids are almost silly to commit to state. Now that the liars are dead in jail or on there way to jail state offers the same things all Big Ten schools offer.
Goodluck to those who stay because those who come after you won't be as talented. If they were they would go somewhere else .— Kerz - The NCAA are a bunch of hypocrites. They say the Freeh Report is fact but don't sanction/punish Graham Spanier. They say they don't have all the facts about individual culpability. How do you punish an institution and Paterno's legacy if you don't know who was culpable. MORE IMPORTANTLY WHY DO THE NCAA PRESIDENTS AND CHANCELLORS STILL SOCIALIZE WITH GRAHAM SPANIER. If there was a cover up at Penn State he was involved and he was the most trained of the 4 individuals to know what had to be done. Just last week he was at a meeting of NCAA committee meeting even though he is no longer a university president and is guilty of covering up the Sandusky scandal.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-committee-endorses-penalty-structure-191054297--spt.html— ResponsibleAmerican - Can't blame them... Anyone that joins Penn State now will never get to play in a bowl game.— chris_r
- Who cares about PSU football? That's why they'e in this mess. As far as I'm concerned, the penalties aren't harsh enough. These poor kids are emotionally damaged, and all everyone keeps talking about is football.— mfecani
- And why is a Bowl game so important to a player....the ring, the jersey the gear will be forgotten in three years or sold ......I understand the money and the recruiting ban will hurt the school....but which one of us still has his rec council, high school, or college letter jacket or trophies on his mantle or still worn.....Kind of shallow....we all know that 5 years after you are gone, nobody gives a dam and the stuff ends up in the attic or the back of a closet....and it still remains a mystery why their were not more firings in the admistration or forced resignations from the board......Leaders, administrators, Directors failled miserably...not the players......and the NCAA played the role of PITA as it jumped on board the bandwagon......and the brain dead media.....has yet to take a responsible stand on the guilt of the admistrators and the board or the NCAA...but thwn again what else could we expect from the free loading plastic heads and talk show idiots...— nuggett
- It's ironic that the top two defectors from the team this year, Justin Brown and Silas Redd, went to play at Oklahoma and USC, two perennial bastions of integrity. I'm sure they'll find the proper balance of athletics and academics at those institutions, especially with such fine moral compasses as Lane Kiffin offering exemplary leadership.— dasher
- Why so much importance played on players who switch schools? These players are just student-athletes, right?— Boru
- The NCAA imposing the punishment is a joke. Their ostensible reasoning was to protect the primacy of education. Give me a break. What's the graduation rate at powerhouses in the SEC? It's all window dressing and PSU was a convenient opportunity for them to show how tough they are without fear of any pushback.— Bede19025
- I just wish people, including the pathetic media, can learn the few KNOWN facts before losing all credibility in their posts. TR3 says that Spanier sent an email after talking with "JP." Never happened. No such email from Spanier. Check your facts.— psualum2000
- It will be tough for PSU for a few years but they will bounce back. PSU football alumni group is very tight and is very supportive of their fellow alum - very important when the majority of them graduate and start looking for a job. I think some of these guys who are walking away will regret the decision 5 or 10 years down the road.— workin365
- wait, we have coaches who get their schools in trouble and flee, and we're ripping an 18 year old high school senior for changing his mind on where he's going to school because instead of going to the respected football power he thought he signed up for, he's going to a team that is going to smacked around for 4 years, plus taunted by opposing fans for something he had nothing to do with? sign me up for that!— jim715
- once again the know-nothing contingent strikes again. those of you who think that all there is to PSU or other big time programs is football. you obviously have never been to any college. the football season ends in Jan. what do you think happens-the students all leave and never go to classes again until Sept.? classes go on and lots of other things are there to occupy the students besides football. i don't blame the class of 2013 for leaving. they feel the way they do and have never experienced the overall atmosphere at PSU. top notch academic programs in many areas on a national level. a lot of you guys need to actually read the Freeh report which is full of speculation,assumptions and opinions. the NCAA rushed to judgement and acted under public pressure rather than waiting for more facts.
PSU football will be OK this year but will probably become a lower level team in the BIG 10. more like Northwestern,Minnesota and other schools that basically aren't in contention for the conference or national championship. most of the time they don't go to bowl games on a regular basis. funny how those players and students wind up going to these schools anyway. maybe like most college football players know that ther're not going to the pros and have decided to go to these and many other schools to get an education. it's not the end of the world. sorry doomsayer haters. WE ARE PENN STATE!— benny1 
Um, did a bunch of you miss that this is a recruit, not a current player? He has no ties to Penn State, so if wants to go somewhere else, what is the problem? A thousand kids a year change their verbal commitments to football programs.— verve- Jo Pa made the bed but the team there doesn't need to lie in it. Temple made its bed by an uncommitted alumni. Things can remain the same at TU but it is evident that PSU will recover. Temple lacks support from its own and the city. PSU will not lose to TU regardless of the situation.— rich62
- gbgreen, like many penn state alums you STILL don't get it!— sfsuprof
- Any other babies want to de-commit or transfer? Please feel free! We don't want you! We only want real men who are up for the challenge and who want to play for their teammates, the school, and the fans! Any other babies like Silas Redd are more than welcome to leave...in fact, please do!— flyers1313
- gotta love the psu alum and zombies still holding on to their football over everything else. The justice in all of this is ANYONE graduating from that place, past and present, will now have that stigma on their resume. Awesome. They deserve it. Employers will just be tossing their resumes aside, as they should.— thingfish
- WTF is wrong with you,thingfish? Seriously,dude....defaf.— red rock
- Poor thingfish. He's just mad because his resume is a blank piece of paper.— Penfold18
penn state football team should all put the SAME NAME ON THEIR JERSIES !! ..yup, any wild guesses >>>>>> " SANDUSKY "— daveH- thingish i right!! all penn state draters should DYE THEIR HAIR WHITE— daveH
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About this blog
Joe Juliano has been a staff writer for The Inquirer for 20 years, covering college sports, golf and the Penn Relays.
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
Emily Kaplan is the Inquirer’s fall intern covering the Nittany Lions. She is a senior at Penn State and has covered a variety of sports for the university’s student-run paper, The Daily Collegian. Over the last two years, she has reported for The Associated Press from State College.
A Montclair, N.J. native, she has also interned at MLB Network, NHL.com and covered the 2012 Olympics in London. Follow her on Twitter here @EKaplan24.
Joe Juliano
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
Emily Kaplan is the Inquirer’s fall intern covering the Nittany Lions. She is a senior at Penn State and has covered a variety of sports for the university’s student-run paper, The Daily Collegian. Over the last two years, she has reported for The Associated Press from State College.
A Montclair, N.J. native, she has also interned at MLB Network, NHL.com and covered the 2012 Olympics in London. Follow her on Twitter here @EKaplan24.
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