'09 PA OL Adam Gress (Penn State Verbal)

[AustinScottistheone]

LOL. Congrats to Adam. You've got to love this group of OL that are coming in the '09 class. He'll need some time to get comfortable with his body as an OT at 6'7 295-300 and will have to work diligently on strength, technique and speed but he could be a real good one after facing Penn State defensive ends for a few years in practice and getting used to playing against that type of athlete as an offensive lineman.

[wadc45]

Blue Chip Chat with Adam Gress

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
By Mike White, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

School: West Mifflin

Position: Offensive- defensive lineman

Height: 6-7

Weight: 290

The skinny: Gress has literally grown into a top lineman. He played last year at 240 and added 50 pounds since then. With his size and agility, more Division I colleges have started to call.c

College Talk: Gress made an early July commitment to Penn State, a few weeks after the Nittany Lions offered a scholarship. West Virginia was his other top choice, but he also had offers from Michigan and Rutgers.

How does one put on 50 pounds in a year? I'd just have to say it was pretty much a hard lifting routine, but a diet is big, too. I just kept it high protein, and a little fatty foods helped, too.

Continued...

[AustinScottistheone]

Final PA Top 50 Signing Week Special: The state’s top prospects
By Chris Dokish

As always, this list was compiled after extensive interviews with college and high school coaches, as well as scouts and players. Special thanks to Joe Butler, founder of Metro Index Scouting and originator of the NFL scouting service, BLESTO, for his input.

This is not a list of the 50 best high school players in the state this year; it is a list of the 50 best college prospects in the state.

Very Good Prospects

31. Adam Gress, West Mifflin Area HS (West Mifflin) OT- Grew from a 240 pound tight end last year to a 6'7" 295 pound tackle this season. Tough kid, but needs to get much stronger and keep improving his technique. Better pass blocker than run blocker. Has come a long way physically, but you would hope a player his size would dominate as a senior, and he didn't. Chose PENNSTATE over Michigan, West Virginia and Rutgers. Bottom line: You can't teach his size, and that's why he got some impressive offers early over the summer. However, he still hasn't dominated like was expected.

[MattC87]

Can I see a link? I'd like to read the rest of this.

[AustinScottistheone]

The Daily News - Gress is new big man on PSU campus

[MattC87]

Scout.com: NSD: The Big Ten’s Hidden Gems

This kid was a little bit of a late bloomer. He came to our Scout combine a few years back as a 245-lb tight end. One year later, he was a 6'7, 295-lb offensive tackle and a very good one to boot. I watched him really turn it on this summer and dominate a couple of summer camps, which earned him his slew of offers. I think the Nittany Lions got a steal and a future starter here.

[AustinScottistheone]

Morelli OnLion: Oh Captain, My Captain

Adam Gress is from western Pennsylvania,
but was born to be a Nittany Lion.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).

Class of 2009: Adam Gress
If there’s one member of the Class of 2009 who was meant to be a Nittany Lion, it’s Adam Gress.

After all, Gress did grow up in western Pennsylvania, and several members of his family had raised him to be a diehard Penn State fan.

But as he approached the Nittany Lions’ summer camp in June, he wasn’t sure that State College was necessarily where he wanted to spend his college years. He had picked up offers from Rutgers, West Virginia and Michigan at other camps, and was starting to hear from other schools as well.

“Really, a Penn State offer is one of those things that I dreamt about as a child,” Gress said last summer. “When I was a kid, I always loved Penn State, and wanted to play for Penn State and all that stuff. But that doesn’t really influence me that much today, because now it’s more of a reality perspective.”

Gress then pared his list to two schools following the completion of his camp circuit — West Virginia and Penn State. Following a visit to Morgantown, he came to a decision.

He decided to turn his lifelong dream into a reality and became the Nittany Lions’ 13th verbal commitment on July 2. It was the pinnacle of a long journey for Gress who added 50 pounds to his 6-foot-7-inch frame in just under a year.

Gress and West Mifflin struggled this season, finishing with a 2-7 record, but he was a second team all-state selection by the Associated Press. He was also named to the Patriot-News Platinum 33 team, and was selected to play in the Big 33 Classic in June.

He is ranked as the No. 74 offensive tackle prospect nationally, and checked in at No. 19 in the Rivals.com postseason Pennsylvania state rankings.