Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno gave the young man next to him a nudge, just the tiniest of gestures to encourage Pat Devlin to do what thousands of college students begged to see.

Imagine that for a minute -- being a high school senior and hearing Penn State fans at a basketball game scream for your attention. "STAND UP DEVLIN," they all chanted. And once he got the nudge, what else could the all-state high school quarterback do? He stood up, waving to his admirers for good measure.

He hardly even fell back into his seat before Paterno and the other assistant coaches around him started saying things to the effect of, "If you're sitting at a basketball game and they do this, imagine it at Beaver Stadium, imagine it in front of 110,000."

Yesterday, Devlin announced that he intended to find that out for himself. The quarterback from Downingtown East High School verbally committed to Penn State, becoming the nudge that triggered a landslide. Two other top tier high school football players -- offensive lineman Antonio Logan-El and defensive tackle Phillip Taylor -- announced their commitments to Penn State's 2006 recruiting class by 5 p.m. yesterday, punctuating Penn State's finest day for recruiting in recent memory.

All are rated as four-star prospects by Rivals.com and Scout.com, except for Logan-El, who is a five-star recruit in Scout.com. Announcing their joint commitment at a press conference in Baltimore, the 6-foot-4 310-pound Logan-El and the 6-foot-3 345-pound Taylor became Penn State's sixth and seventh commitments from Maryland in a class now ranked fifth and sixth in the country by Rivals and Scout, respectively. The two also became the Lions' 12th and 13th four-star commitments, according to Rivals.

Their choice was a surprise to some, as plenty of people thought the two big men would play closer to home, for the Maryland Terrapins.

But their matriculation to Penn State was hardly as shocking as Devlin's. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound prospect originally committed to the Miami Hurricanes in July -- before wavering when Miami's head coach, Larry Coker, fired several of his offensive assistants following the team's 40-3 loss in the Peach Bowl. The Pennsylvania record holder for career passing yards decided to give Coker a call.

"I told him I wanted to explore my options," Devlin said.

And that's what prompted Devlin to visit Penn State last weekend, where those thousands of student started chanting his name at the Bryce Jordan Center during the game vs. Ohio State last Saturday.

"It was kind of embarrassing," said Devlin, who sounded like he was still embarrassed. "I wasn't prepared for it."

He spent the rest of the day viewing facilities, meeting coaches and academic advisors and listening to how he would fit into the Lions' offense, an idea that must not have been tough to sell. Devlin ran a spread offense similar to Penn State's in high school. In addition to throwing for 8,162 yards in his high school career, Devlin was often called upon to run quarterback sweeps, draw and zone reads, much like Penn State did with senior Michael Robinson this season.

While Devlin is hardly another Mike Rob -- his strength is passing accuracy, rather than running -- he was nonetheless confident he would find a home in Happy Valley. When a few thousand already know your name, how could you not be?

"I just want to say thank you to the students for a great welcome," Devlin said. "It really made me feel like I belong."