The nation's No. 1 recruit, Kevin Jones, has decided that he's not coming to Penn State to play football next year.

Oh well.

Cardinal O'Hara's All-America running back, in spite of last-minute sales pitches from prominent Nittany Lion alumni Brandon Short and Lavar Arrington, decided instead to take his talents south to the land o' the Hokies, better known as Virginia Tech.

Good for you, Kevin.

Penn State fans, don't go blubbering into your Peachy Paterno ice cream. It's not the end of the world. Far from it, in fact.

To ease your frustrations, let's take a look at some other top local recruits who turned down Penn State late in the recruiting season, and where they wound up.

We'll start back in 1993, when a young quarterback from Berwick High was making colleges drool with his uncanny passing and running ability. Penn State made a strong pitch to get Ron Powlus, but he decided to spend his next four (what turned out to be five) years praying to Touchdown Jesus, as he said no to Joe Paterno and yes to Lou Holtz of Notre Dame.

Powlus concluded his career in 1997, however, as a signal-caller who put up some impressive numbers but was never able to live up to his full potential, and the Irish were a paltry 7-6 during Powlus' senior campaign. Back in Happy Valley, the quarterback Penn State "settled" for, unheralded Mike McQueary, and the Lions were flirting with a national championship.

Although Powlus did wind up in the NFL, it was as a free-agent backup in Philadelphia three years later, not as the top-10 pick experts had said he would be back in '93.

In 1996, Penn State did its best to woo another highly touted local quarterback, Bethlehem's Dan Kendra, to Happy Valley, and again was without success. Kendra verbally committed to the Lions, then slithered out of that agreement quicker than the alligators he liked to wrestle and wound up at Florida State.

Again, the Lions were left holding the bag. That is, until Kendra took the field. After toiling for two unsuccessful seasons in a two-quarterback system, the Seminoles threw in the towel on Kendra's QB career, bulked him up, and made him into a fullback.

Who would have thought that Kevin Thompson would have more success than the amazing Kendra, but Thompson did, finishing his career with more starts (24-1), wins (18-1) and touchdown passes (19-3) than Kendra.

Penn State has also been heavily involved in the recent pursuits of young gunners Chris Simms and Jeff Smoker, who passed up the Lions for Texas and Michigan State, respectively. Simms, a junior-to-be, and Smoker (who was roughed up quite nicely in his visit to Beaver Stadium this fall), a sophomore-to-be, have had some successes thus far, but both have yet to prove if they are the real deal.

So don't feel devastated that Jones will be donning crimson next season instead of navy blue. He wanted to play as a true freshman, which partially explains his choice to not come to Penn State, where Paterno over the years has displayed an allergy for starting rookies. Oh, Jones will play next season, but he might find his yards hard to come by as the Hokies attempt to adjust to life after Michael Vick.

Jones is a great talent, but it isn't as though the Lions are in dire straits at the running back position. Next year they will have seniors Eric McCoo, Larry Johnson and Omar Easy toting the pigskin, with up-and-comers such as Ricky Upton and Pete Gilmore waiting in the wings.

Now, if Jones were an offensive lineman, and Penn State failed to land him, well. . .

That's another story.