National Signing Day recap: Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia football recruiting

None of the area schools struck gold with a top 25 recruiting class in 2013, but National Signing Day still brought a lot of new faces to Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Penn State. The Nittany Lions did particularly well considering the long list of sanctions that restricted their recruiting.

College Football Recruiting | Cardiac Hill | The Smoking Musket | Black Shoe Diaries

The Panthers landed wide receiver Tyler Boyd and offensive tackle Dorian Johnson, both four-star recruits in their recruiting class. At Cardiac Hill, they tout the depth of the class:

The first thing that you have to think about when you look at this class is depth. Pitt took five offensive linemen and five defensive linemen - both areas that Pitt needed to build depth at as they move to the ACC.

Pitt was close to adding five-star wide receiver Robert Foster to go along with Boyd, but ultimately he chose to go to Alabama.

The Mountaineers put together a solid class, even if it might be lacking in star power. West Virginia failed to fill holes at defensive line and cornerback, but landed a class packed with linebackers and running backs. The Smoking Musket notes that the WVU class is loaded with JUCO players:

There are a ton of JUCO players, probably a result of Holgorsen's realization that we needed an immediate infusion of talent to compete in the Big XII. RB Dreamius Smith and WR Kevin White enrolled early, but WR Ronald Carswell, LB D'Vante Henry, OL Stone Underwood, DL Dontrill Hyman, LB Brandon Golson and RB/WR Mario Alford will all get here in the summer and hopefully make an immediate impact.

The biggest name the Mountaineers landed was four-star wide receiver Shelton Gibson, who should get plenty of playing time off the bat with Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin headed to the NFL.

Penn State's recruiting class was highlighted by quarterback Christian Hackenberg and tight end Adam Breneman. Hackenberg is a five-star recruit, considered No. 2 in the nation by Rivals. Black Shoe Diaries has a ton of info about the recruiting class as well as a look at where the PSU players who decommitted ended up. The consensus is that Penn State did very well, especially considering its restrictions. As Black Shoe Diaries notes, "nothing went better for the Nittany Lions this year than quarterback recruiting."