Va. prospect joins PSU as walk-on for football

Deon Butler, a 5-foot-11-inch, 160-pound wide receiver/defensive back from C.D. Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Va. accepted an invitation as a preferred walk-on to the Penn State football team for the Class of 2004.

Butler received offers to play football from numerous Div. II schools and drew interest from some Div. I schools including Akron, but decided to forgo the scholarships to attend Penn State.

With preferred walk-on status, Butler will begin summer workouts with the Nittany Lions' football team this August but will not have to try out for the squad since he is not under scholarship.

Conn. all-star forward commits to Penn State

The Penn State men's basketball team received verbal commitment No. 3 for its recruiting Class of 2004 from Connecticut all-star forward Geary Claxton on Friday.

The 6-foot-5, 200 pound prospect from Hill Regional High School in New Haven, Conn. chose the Nittany Lions over offers and interest from Notre Dame, Syracuse, Providence, Fairfield and Connecticut.

As a junior, Claxton averaged just over 21 points per game and nine rebounds. He was selected to both The Hartford Courant and the New Haven Register's all-star teams, in addition to playing for the Connecticut Select AAU team.

He joins highly touted shooting guard Danny Morrissey and point guard Mike Walker as the Lions' incoming scholarship players for the recruiting Class of 2004.