It's hard to get 18 teenagers from different parts of the country to synchronize their busy schedules to meet up for a weekend.

But that's exactly what 18 of 19 members of Penn State's incoming freshman class of football players are doing this weekend as they will be making their official visit to University Park and getting a chance to finally meet each other, many for the first time.

"I originally heard about it from [Offenisve Line] Coach [Dick] Anderson, and he just asked me if I wanted to take my official visit on December 5, and I said yes," wide receiver Mark Rubin said. "As I talked to more and more guys, they were also taking it that weekend. We all thought it would be an awesome idea if we all come up together."

The only member of this year's recruiting class not making the trip is recent verbal commitment Kevin Suhey, who plans to take his visit sometime in January.

"Basically I've only been able to talk to the guys that have committed," Rubin said. "I just want to build as close of a relationship as possible with them because they're going to be my brothers for the next three or four years. I'm just really excited to meet them all."

The itinerary for the weekend provides the players with a chance to get acquainted with each other, as well as to become more accustomed with the coaching staff and campus.

Tonight, players arrive and have a sit-down dinner with each other after which they meet up with their assigned hosts for the remainder of the weekend. For Rubin, he will be rooming with redshirt freshman receiver Josh Hannum.

Tomorrow, the recruits eat all three meals with each other and also get the chance to sit down with a professor from the college in which they plan to enroll to discuss the various aspects of Penn State academics. As Rubin put it, all the commitments get a chance to "experience the life of a player."

The night is capped off with a social event at Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's house.

The recruits close off the weekend with a team brunch Sunday morning.

"I'm not really sure what to expect," offensive lineman Austin Hinton said. "I'm just looking forward to seeing things I haven't seen before. I'm not really sure. Everything is new to me."

While some prospects are a little less familiar with Happy Valley, others have spent a considerable amount of time downtown and on campus. The official visit this weekend for linebacker Dan Connor, much like Rubin's, is to get to know his future teammates.

"I've pretty much seen the whole campus," Connor said. "I'm just excited to meet all the recruits and put a face to their names."

Connor, who will be hosted by freshman linebacker Paul Posluszny, will actually head up early today in order to schedule his classes for the spring 2004 semester, as he will enroll early to get a head start on his college career.

In addition to the 18 players already committed, three other prospects who have yet to commit to a college program will also join the future Lions this weekend. All three, ironically, are quarterbacks, including Daryll Clark from Ohio, Jordan Lyons from Georgia and Paul Cianciolo from South Carolina.

According to several of the Lions' verbals, it would not be unreasonable to see at least one of the aforementioned players commit to Penn State before the weekend is over.

"When I went up to the Indiana game, Jordan Lyons was there also," Connor said.

"I was able to talk to him for a bit and tell him we'd be happy to have him on the team. Obviously if the coaches are recruiting him, they know he's a good player. We're definitely going to try to persuade all of them. It won't be too hard. Penn State sells itself."