Penn State's new football coach is exactly like Joe Paterno in that he has no time for recruiting gurus and their rankings.

"I could care less about rankings," Bill O'Brien said in a teleconference with media Wednesday. "I care about getting players that are the right fit for Penn State."

Referring to the fact that he's still, for a few more days, the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator, he added that, "You could go up and down our roster, and you'll find plenty of guys who weren't ranked at all coming out of high school."

In another way, though. O'Brien is nothing like Joe Pa. The existence of the teleconference, an all-time first, is Exhibit A. Paterno never, ever did that sort of thing. He utterly loathed talking about recruiting.

"It's very important for us to talk to the media as a staff, not just me," said O'Brien, who called in from Indianapolis after the Patriots' Super Bowl practice.

"It's important for people in Pennsylvania to know how hard we're working. I'm happy to make this call. I was actually looking forward to it."

No way to tell, over the phone, if any writers passed out upon hearing that.

But clearly it's a new day.

The results were mixed, on the NCAA-mandated first day for 2012 recruits to sign national letters-of-intent.

The good news is all 19 high school seniors who verbally committed to Penn State had faxed in their paperwork by mid-afternoon.

The bad news is that while recruiting is an extremely soft science, there is some broad connection between success in the rankings and on the field.

And in the rankings Penn State finished 50th in the country (seventh in the Big Ten) according to Rivals.com, 38th according to 247 Sports (sixth in the Big Ten), and 49th (seventh in the Big Ten) according to Scouts.com, and by consensus behind such luminaries as Vanderbilt, Rutgers and Oregon State.

In fairness to Penn State, the past couple months, including the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal, the firing of Paterno and Penn State's boorish handling thereof, and then Paterno's death just 12 days ago, did not provide the best base from which to recruit.

Tom Lemming, a national recruiting analyst for CBS Sports, said last week that pre-Sandusky scandal, Penn State appeared headed toward a top 10, perhaps top five, class nationally.

There are no five-star rated recruits among Penn State's 19. Depending on which guru you believe, there are only 50-60 five-stars in the country.

And next year's class, the high school class of 2013, will in truth be O'Brien's first real class.

He didn't even back away from that Wednesday.

"We are going to change (Penn State's) system of how to grade and evaluate players," he said. "We'll sit down as a staff and look at our team this winter. When we decide what we need, in the spring, we're going to get out there, get our staff out there, to clinics, into the high schools."

The 2012 class does include some important, or at least intriguing, players.

The best of them might be Akeel Lynch, a running back from Athol Springs, N.Y. With Stephfon Green graduating and Brandon Beachum leaving the program, Penn State can use depth behind Silas Redd at tailback.

Lynch is a four-star guy with enough size (6-0, 205) and speed (4.47) to perhaps play early.

"He's been a big point of discussion," O'Brien said of Lynch. "It's difficult to say you ever have enough running backs."

Linebacker U. recruited just one linebacker, 6-3, 230 Nyeem Wartman from Valley View High in Archbald.

"He's got size, and he's an instinctive player who can run and hit," O'Brien said. "He might be able to play a few different roles. (New defensive coordinator) Ted Roof is excited to have him, and (linebackers coach) Ron Vanderlinden did a great job recruiting him."

It's no scoop that Penn State has no more dire need than at quarterback. O'Brien and Co. got one, Steven Bench of Cairo, Ga. Full disclosure: His only other Division I-A offer was from Rice.

Bench played in a run-heavy Veer offense through his junior year, after which he transferred from Bainbridge High to Cairo (nickname: the Syrupmakers), and began to attract some notice. Mississippi State had been snooping around.

Bench is big enough (6-3) and smart enough (3.86 GPA).

"We liked his accuracy and decision-making," O'Brien said. "His leadership skills came across when he visited."

Bench is an anomaly in one sense; 16 of the 19 signees come from within a 350-mile radius of State College.

"I've said this before, we've got to do a great job in that 300-400 mile radius of Pennsylvania," O'Brien said.

"Ohio, New Jersey, New England … really the majority of our roster should come from there.

"Then what we want to do is use our connections where we've coached, maybe Georgia, Florida, Alabama, to try to get some guys that we think fit at Penn State and are willing to make the travel; the parents are willing to travel."

That it appears, is a matter for 2013.

mgross@lnpnews.com