Ishaq Williams may have chosen Notre Dame over Penn State, but that doesn’t mean Joe Paterno and his staff can’t finish up their 2011 recruiting class with a bang. With plenty of Nittany Lion prospects still uncommitted, this year seems downright salvageable. Perhaps the commitment of New Jersey athlete Bill Belton–news first reported by FightOnState’s Cory James–will help re-energize the momentum that seemed momentarily lost.

Belton originally committed to Pitt early in the recruiting process, but we won’t hold that against him. He became one of a number of verbal commits to look elsewhere after the firing of Dave Wannstedt (and the subsequent firing of Mike Haywood), and quickly whittled down his choices to West Virginia, Cincinnati, and Penn State, and today made his intentions clear–he’ll join the Blue and White.

The 5’9, 180-pounder was one of the top athletes on the east coast, and his offer sheet reflects that. In addition to the aforementioned four schools, Belton received scholarship offers from schools as far south as Florida and Georgia Tech, and to the west, from Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Oregon. Rivals ranks Belton as the 25th best “athlete,” as the #8 prospect from the state of New Jersey, and as a 4-star recruit, sentiments echoed by Scout–who calls Belton the #13 wide receiver in this class of 2011.

Belton was a quarterback in his high school days, and his proficiency at that position demonstrates his elite athleticism. He was the Courier Post (a regional New Jersey newspaper) MVP, and his statistics are pretty staggering. He became the first New Jersian to pass for 2000 yards and run for 1000 in consecutive seasons, completing 61% of his passes with 21 touchdowns through the air. And on the ground, he ran for more than 6 yards a pop with another 16 touchdowns, inspiring some pretty awesome quotes:

“He’s an alien. He shouldn’t even be here,’’ Eastern coach Dan Spittal said. “He’s that much better than everyone else.’’

“You just can’t stop him. He’s at a different level,’’ Moorestown coach Russ Horton said. “He’s a man playing with boys. He is that good.’’

“I’ve been coaching for 30 years and he’s the best high school quarterback I’ve ever seen,’’ Spittal said. “He can throw with accuracy, he has poise and he runs when he has to. And when he runs, you couldn’t tackle him in a phone booth.’’

It’s not clear what position Belton will play at Penn State, whether it’s wide receiver or defensive back, but it’s clear that this kid is a football player, and is a big get for Mike McQueary, especially after he whiffed on Bill the first time. Reports were that Belton and his family were enamored with Big Red, and it’s entirely possible that the Penn State WR coach will get 4 or 5 years to work with Bill.

What we’ve won after the jump