'10 PA OT Miles Dieffenbach (Penn State Signee)

[AustinScottistheone]

Class of 2010
Pennsylvania’s Top Seniors
By Chris Dokish

For those of you who follow our yearly rankings, you may have noticed that the Top 50 has become the Top 25. The reason for this is because of the lack of depth in the state. It's become more difficult to find 50 prospects yearly that are at a high-major level. For that reason, we have decided to just report on the very best the state has to offer.

While the depth is not what it used to be in a state that has seen its population plunge over the last few decades, there is still some excellent talent out there. You may notice, however, that there are really only two prospects who received attention from the high level programs around the country. This is a significant drop from past seasons.

Lastly, as we always try to do, we do our best to leave out "scout talk," hyperbole and biases. We try to speak as bluntly, and accurately, as possible, while still remembering that these are high school kids we're talking about.

10. Miles Dieffenbach, Fox Chapel Area HS (Pittsburgh) OG/C- Versatile lineman that can play guard, center, or tackle at the next level. Most college coaches think he fits best at center because of his agility and smarts. At 6'4" and 280 pounds, he displays quick feet and athleticism. He’s a tough kid who will destroy you when he pulls. Dieffenbach is also an excellent technician who was very impressive during the spring camp and Combine season. Committed to PENN STATE this week, even though his father is a tennis coach at Pitt. In addition to the Nittany Lions, he fielded offers from Pitt, Florida State, Virginia, Minnesota, Northwestern and Syracuse. Bottom line- Went head to head this spring with some of the best defensive linemen in the East and he showed just how good he was.

[GoRU]

He's not the first Pitt legacy Paterno landed, but IIRC this is the first of the Wannstedt era.

They're getting squeezed at home by the Big Ten, and aren't making up for it in the East.

[AustinScottistheone]

Luginbill talks Penn State: Part I -


6/3

By Jeff Rice, NN Senior Writer
jrice@nittanynetwork.com
June 3, 2009

Tom Luginbill has seen the game as a player, a coach and a personnel evaluator. Each year, ESPN’s national director of recruiting and his colleagues at Scouts, Inc. evaluate more than 3,000 high school prospects, from future NFL stars to those destined for FCS programs.

Luginbill took some time to talk to Nittany Network senior writer Jeff Rice about a variety of Penn State topics. Today, in the first of a three-part series, he breaks down the Nittany Lions’ six commitments and talks about some recent changes in their recruiting philosophy. Stay tuned for future installments.

CONTINUED....

Miles Dieffenbach: We invited him to the Under Armour All-America game as a center prospect. This is a difficult class to evaluate at the center position because so many guys that end up being centers were tackles or guards in high school.
He’s played everywhere across the front. For a center he’s tall, and you usually don’t see a lot of that. I think it’s a good pickup for this type of class that doesn’t have a bunch of ready-made centers available.

JR: Were you surprised Dieffenbach chose Penn State over Pitt given that his dad is the longtime Panthers’ tennis coach?

TL: Drawing from my own personal experience (Luginbill’s father, Al, was the head coach at San Diego State), most fathers involved in the coaching profession that have a son or daughter who is a recruitable athlete, the No. 1 thing they’re smart enough to do is advise when they need to advise and then stay out of the way.
I would venture to say his dad has been through the process enough as a coach to realize (Miles) has to make the decision that’s best for him.

[AustinScottistheone]

SportingNews.com - The Recruitnik

[Undercover Brother]

Originally Posted by FrankBooth

Almost as big of a surprise as Shrive last year

OK ... so I have had my third plate of crow handed to me - AJ Wallace, Shrive and now Big Miles.

Pitt is in trouble this year. Losing Dieffenbach and Ricketts to PSU. To think, we ain't even done with PA just yet also.

The lawfirm of Baublitz, Floyd, Kenney, and Royer could have a very nice ring to it as well.

[PSU42Fan]

Originally Posted by Undercover Brother

OK ... so I have had my third plate of crow handed to me - AJ Wallace, Shrive and now Big Miles.

Pitt is in trouble this year. Losing Dieffenbach and Ricketts to PSU. To think, we ain't even done with PA just yet also.

The lawfirm of Baublitz, Floyd, Kenney, and Royer could have a very nice ring to it as well.

From your mouth to God's ears...

[FrankBooth]

And I wasn't dishing out any crow -- even though Dieffenbach had said said some nice things about PSU recently, I figured that it was just typical recruit speak (like Fortt saying he liked Auburn) while PSU's chances had just improved from 2% to 15%.

I thought the mating dance might go on longer and we'd see if the interest was indeed genuine, but BOOM he stunned us by committing. I still hadn't gotten used to the idea that he might be interested.

But I'll take being pleasantly stunned like that any day, and I sure hope we don't have any unpleasant surprises with the law firm.

[AustinScottistheone]

BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Calif. WRs highlight additions to the Rivals250

Pittsburgh Fox Chapel Area center Miles Dieffenbach jumped from three stars to four and now is No. 206 in the Rivals250. Dieffenbach clearly was the best offensive lineman at the Penn State Nike Camp. Dieffenbach is another Penn State commitment.

[Hayride]

Great to hear that Miles has been bumped up. However, when I looked at the list, I noticed the significant disparity between how Rivals and Scout have ranked Coxson. Scout has him as the 2nd ranked wr and he just dropped out of the Rivals 250? Do I have that right?

[psubills62]

Originally Posted by Hayride

Great to hear that Miles has been bumped up. However, when I looked at the list, I noticed the significant disparity between how Rivals and Scout have ranked Coxson. Scout has him as the 2nd ranked wr and he just dropped out of the Rivals 250? Do I have that right?

Absolutely correct, and amazingly strange. I have no clue why the enormous difference between the rankings.

[PSU42Fan]

Originally Posted by Hayride

Great to hear that Miles has been bumped up. However, when I looked at the list, I noticed the significant disparity between how Rivals and Scout have ranked Coxson. Scout has him as the 2nd ranked wr and he just dropped out of the Rivals 250? Do I have that right?

That's because Mike Farrell is an idiot. Not exactly news there...

[AustinScottistheone]

Blue Chip Chat with Miles Diffenbach, Fox Chapel

[AustinScottistheone]

Fox Chapel sees Dieffenbach as 2-way force - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

[AustinScottistheone]

Scout.com: Dieffenbach Brings Great Versatility

9/4/09

By Matt Alkire. Alkire in-depth player evaluation.

[AustinScottistheone]

http://bwi.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1023193

12/1/09

By Sean Fitz. Miles covers a wide-array of topics, including his preparation for the Under Armour AA game, the big group (11) of PSU commitments that will be taking official visits this weekend, closing out the PSU recruiting class, and his thoughts on the season PSU had in 2009. Miles talks about PSU coach Tom Bradley visiting for an hour or so and says it was mostly a bunch of stories and getting to know his parents.