The Penn State football team has landed its third recruit from the WPIAL class of 2010 when Luke Graham, a junior offensive lineman at Penn-Trafford, made a verbal commitment last night.

Graham (6 feet 51/2, 265 pounds) is one of the top junior linemen in the WPIAL and also had scholarship offers from Pitt, Virginia, Maryland, Florida State and Illinois, among others.

"There is nothing like playing in front of 110,000 people, like at Penn State," said Graham. "It's a great football school and a great academic school. I have friends and family there, too. There is nothing like it."

Graham, who has a 4.1 grade-point average, was recruited to play guard or center, although he will play offensive tackle this season at Penn-Trafford.

"I've always liked Penn State," said Graham. "I looked around a little bit at some other schools. I was thinking about Virginia and Stanford, but I realized Penn State is where I need to be."

The other two juniors from the WPIAL who have committed to Penn State are Sto-Rox quarterback Paul Jones and Canon-McMillan running back-linebacker Mike Hull. All were recruited by Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley.

Jones committed in January, but decided a few months later that he wanted to take a look at a few other schools. Jones visited a few Pitt practices, but recently reaffirmed his commitment to Penn State.

"I was just a little scared because I didn't really know anybody up there at Penn State, and I thought I didn't look [enough] at a few other schools," Jones said. "But I went up there [to Penn State] three weekends in a row, and everything is good."

• Ron Richards is back as Plum's boys' coach. Richards coached Plum for nine seasons and had a 139-84 record before resigning in 2007. Tom Demko coached Plum the past two seasons, but resigned.

• Franklin Regional hired Brad Midgley, a former Duquesne University player, as its new coach last night. Midgley was Fort Cherry's coach the past two seasons and led Fort Cherry to the WPIAL playoffs this season.

Springdale baseball player Brandon Chamberlain is the recipient of the WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association's John Challis Memorial Award.

The award is given in the name of Challis, the former Freedom High athlete whose courageous battle with cancer inspired many a year ago before Challis died in August. Chamberlain plays for Springdale and has undergone two open-heart surgeries, the most recent in October of last year.