Mike Vukovcan It’s been a pretty memorable day for Hopewell Vikings quarterback James Armstrong.
It’s not too often that a sophomore receives an offer to play for an NFL Hall of Fame coach along with one from one of the highest profiled schools in college football, but it happened today for Armstrong.
Things started early this morning with an offer from Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels, but things got bigger. Later in the afternoon, Armstrong received his latest Power 4 offer from the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Not only did he receive the offer, but head coach James Franklin and assistant head coach Terry Smith traveled to Hopewell High School to give the news to Vikings head coach Matt Mottes. Because he’s only a sophomore, Penn State isn’t permitted to call or speak with Armstrong and deliver the news in-person. Therefore, Franklin and Smith met with Mottes, who then informed his star quarterback about the news afterwards.
Penn State could’ve called Coach Mottes on the phone in order to give him the news, but they wanted to make a splash by coming to the school, as they traveled to Hopewell High School and landed in the Penn State helicopter.
This is an indication to me that Armstrong is not just an ordinary recruit getting an offer but one that Penn State will take serious and recruit hard.
As I mentioned earlier this morning after the offer from North Carolina, the floodgates have likely opened in terms of interest for this talented prospect from Power 4 programs. This past Friday in a 51-50 loss to Beaver, the 6’3″, 220-pound left-handed quarterback threw for 346 yards, ran for 263 yards and combined for 6 TD’s.
Armstrong will become the first Power 4 recruit from Hopewell High School since Rushel Shell (Pitt) and Paul Posluszny (Penn State).
