I was introduced to Greg Harrison back in July in Hersheypark Stadium at the Big 33 Football Classic.

At the time, the rising senior from Shenandoah Valley Senior High School was there with a few other Penn State football recruits.

I shook his meat cleaver of a hand and he complimented The Daily Collegian on its football coverage, to which I joked that he would end up hating me, simply because I was a member of the media.

His reply?

"Well I'm much bigger than you so don't write anything bad about me or Penn State."

My reply?

"Yeah well I'm faster than you, so I'll just run away."

My 155 pound frame of pure twisted steel will not be running from the blue-chip prospect who weighs in at 300 pounds any time soon. That's because I'm not writing anything bad about him, at least not yet.

At the risk of sounding homer, there is something special about the incoming Penn State freshman class of 2008 and it needs to be brought to the forefront.

It's not the uninformed and unaccountable screwballs on the Penn State fan message boards that are the source of the savior status placed on these young men, but there's something genuinely radiant about the next season's true freshmen.

First, this recruiting class is mature and proactive.

Justin Zwick, one of the nation's top quarterbacks in the class of 2006 committed to Ohio State and became the unofficial spokesperson for the Buckeyes. He actively helped the coaching staff recruit some of Ohio's top talents.

In the end, because of his decision to sell the Ohio State program to other prospects, the Buckeyes wound up with a top three recruiting class. Oh yeah, Ohio State beat Miami that year for the national title.

As history has shown, a mature and proactive recruiting class leads to some good things. It's not a secret that verbal commitments Harrison, Mark Rubin and A.Q. Shipley, among others, have actively sought out some of the nation's top talent in an attempt to get them to commit to Penn State.

All of those young men were instrumental in getting players like top linebackers Tyrell Sales and Dontey Brown to choose the Lions, among others.

There seems to be a vested interest in how this class shapes out among its members, something that has not been evident in past Penn State classes.

Secondly, fans should be pleased to know that the 18 guys heading into the football program next fall already have a chip on their shoulder. That's always a good thing.

Yes, part of the reason is that the team went 3-9 this season, and they want to improve upon such an ugly record.

However, that's only part of it. There's still something else.

Remember Chad Henne? The name makes Lions' fans ears bleed and hearts break, but causes the guys in the class of 2008 to start foaming at the mouth.

The highly-touted Wilson quarterback was the apple of Penn State's recruiting eye since his sophomore year in high school. The Lions spent night and day recruiting the kid, even getting wind that he would in fact commit to Penn State before he ultimately selected conference rival Michigan.

And then there's Dan Connor's take on it.

"When it happened, I would have rather Chad come to Penn State," Connor said. "Now that he's at Michigan, he's going to have a bulls eye on him. A lot of guys were expecting him to commit to Penn State. We even got word that he was. He's just another quarterback now, and a lot of guys want a piece of him."

Above all, this shows that this team does have a bond between them. What's wrong with a vendetta against another player on another team? It's a display of emotion that no player on Penn State's current roster has ever shown.

These are all promising things, especially the maturity and closeness the class of 2008 has already displayed.

Among other things, there's a sense of urgency and emotion that was lacking from this year's squad, and the freshmen have already spoke of bringing it to their future teammates come August.