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Lottery Numbers for Sunday, Nov. 27

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Four announce candidacies for district judge in the Mountain Top area

<p>Penn State opened the first day after the 2015 regular season by firing its offensive coordinator. On that same Sunday this year, the Nittany Lions were making plans for Indianapolis and the Big Ten title game.</p><p>What started with the dismissal of John Donovan and the hiring of Joe Moorhead ended with the Big Ten&#8217;s most explosive offense in 2016, recording 63 plays of 20-plus yards &#8212; 11 more than second-place Michigan.</p><p>It&#8217;s one of the biggest reasons the Lions will play Wisconsin for the conference championship on Saturday in Indianapolis &#8212; with either a spot in the Rose Bowl or the College Football Playoff on the line.</p><p>&#8220;Probably the biggest difference this year was setting a standard and (a winning) culture on the offensive side of the ball,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said Sunday. &#8220;And then holding guys to that standard.&#8221;</p><p>Franklin praised the work of Moorhead and first-year defensive coordinator Brent Pry in helping the Lions complete such a stunning turnaround. Moorhead had previously been the boss at his alma mater, Fordham, and Pry had turned down a chance to lead an FCS program himself, following Franklin to Penn State instead of taking over at Georgia Southern.</p><p>&#8220;I think the big thing is his leadership,&#8221; Franklin said of Moorhead. &#8220;He&#8217;s been a head coach before. He and Coach Pry have done a tremendous job of getting to their their message.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Infirmary report</strong></p><p>Franklin gave an optimistic outlook for star tailback Saquon Barkley, who left Saturday&#8217;s win over Michigan State early with an apparent ankle injury.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re confident he&#8217;s playing,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;But for me to tell you right now how he&#8217;s looking &#8212; we haven&#8217;t even had our team meeting or staff meeting to go over personnel with the trainers.</p><p>&#8220;But I communicated with Saquon last night and communicated with Saquon this morning. We&#8217;re expecting him to play.&#8221;</p><p>If it&#8217;s just a smokescreen for Wisconsin, it&#8217;s a good one. Barkley is being made available to the media on Monday, something that rarely happens with injured players at Penn State.</p><p>On the other side, Wisconsin starting quarterback Alex Hornibrook was sidelined for the entire second half of Saturday&#8217;s win over Minnesota with an unspecified injury following a hard hit. He was replaced by senior Bart Houston.</p><p>&#8220;He was just in the office &#8230; and says he&#8217;s feeling good and feeling a lot better than he did yesterday,&#8221; Badgers coach Paul Chryst said Sunday. &#8220;We&#8217;ll take it day by day and see where he&#8217;s at. I know he got on the bike today and did some things, said he felt good after that. But we&#8217;ll probably just take it day by day here.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Big additions</strong></p><p>Penn State hadn&#8217;t landed a verbal commitment since training camp. But the Lions broke through this weekend by landing a player for each of their next two classes.</p><p>New Jersey senior defensive lineman Fred Hansard pulled the trigger on Sunday afternoon during an official visit weekend trip, following Harrisburg-area junior tight end Zack Kuntz, who pledged before Saturday&#8217;s game.</p><p>Lions247 first reported Hansard&#8217;s commitment. Kuntz announced his decision on Twitter.</p><p>&#8220;Where else?&#8221; Kuntz wrote along with photos of himself and his family with Franklin. &#8220;Happy Valley, I&#8217;m coming home!&#8221;</p><p>Hansard had previously committed to Florida but made multiple trips to Penn State this month.</p><p>A 6-foot-3, 310-pounder from The Hun School, Hansard is ranked as a top-200 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite and the No. 11 defensive tackle in the 2017 cycle. A four-star prospect, Hansard becomes the Lions&#8217; second-highest rated recruit in their upcoming class behind quarterback Sean Clifford.</p><p>Hansard was one of a few high-profile senior defensive linemen visiting this weekend, including Josh Kaindoh, a five-star prospect who is committed to Maryland. Hansard becomes the 15th recruit in the class, which will be on the smaller side because Penn State does not have many seniors to replace.</p><p>&#8220;I wish,&#8221; Franklin said Sunday, &#8220;that I had 15 more&#8221; scholarships to give.</p><p>That&#8217;s not an issue right now for the 2018 class, which got another major addition in Kuntz. The Camp Hill High School junior is rated as the country&#8217;s top tight end and the No. 50 overall recruit for the next recruiting cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite. He is the brother of former Penn State receiver Christian Kuntz.</p><p>The 6-foot-7 Kuntz is the fifth junior aboard, all of whom are rated at least four stars in the Composite rankings. The Lions also have pledges from Wyoming Valley West offensive lineman Chris Bleich and Harrisburg High School&#8217;s Micah Parsons, the No. 5 recruit nationally.</p><p>Kuntz is the second tight end in that class, joining Massachusetts&#8217; Pat Freiermuth.</p><p>The Lions had been in a recruiting rut &#8212; relative to their standards &#8212; since the end of last season, as the team didn&#8217;t win a game after Thanksgiving. That allowed opposing schools to go on the attack and try to play up Franklin&#8217;s job security as a reason not to pick Penn State.</p><p>&#8220;One thing we needed to do is show the high-end recruits we&#8217;re able to win at a high level,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;Some were able to see that and jumped on board ahead of time. Others needed to see a little bit more evidence.&#8221;</p><p>A division title, an eight game win streak and a victory over Ohio State has done the trick. And Franklin said he&#8217;s noticed a difference now in his conversations on the recruiting trail.</p><p>&#8220;Instead of people talking about what Penn State was,&#8221; Franklin said, &#8220;people are starting to talk about what Penn State is.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State running back Saquon Barkley left Saturday&#8217;s game with an injury, but coach James Franklin said Sunday he expects him to play vs. Wisconsin. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_barkley-ankle20161127202558716-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State running back Saquon Barkley left Saturday&#8217;s game with an injury, but coach James Franklin said Sunday he expects him to play vs. Wisconsin. </caption0><photoCredit0>Chris Knight | AP photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_AP163320411470072016112720194621-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A tough scene to imagine after Penn State lost 55-16 to Michigan State last year: Lions coach James Franklin celebrating a division title with his family after beating the Spartans 45-12 on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_AP163320411470072016112720194621-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>A tough scene to imagine after Penn State lost 55-16 to Michigan State last year: Lions coach James Franklin celebrating a division title with his family after beating the Spartans 45-12 on Saturday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Chris Knight | AP photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p><strong>Big Ten championship</strong></p><p>Penn State vs. Wisconsin</p><p>8 p.m., Saturday, FOX</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> eHvH5S-u-Xs</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHvH5S-u-Xs</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Penn State Athletics</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Penn State continues huge turnaround; Updates on Barkley, recruiting