In college football, recruiting can really be a game of feast or famine. Such is the case for Penn State football recruiting in the 2024 cycle. After a relatively quiet month of May, the Nittany Lions have started a hot streak with three commitments so far in June. And the size of the 2024 class may soon get much larger. James Franklin is now predicted to land six new Penn State football commitments after an extremely successful recruiting weekend in Happy Valley. These predictions, made by several of the most prominent recruiting services in the industry, tackle some of the most important needs for the Nittany Lions on the trail.
The wide receiver comes into focus with new predicted Penn State football commitments
One of the biggest thorns in the side of Penn State football recruiting recently has been at wide receiver. After only signing one high school wide receiver last year, Penn State currently has no wideouts in the class of 2024. But that soon may change.
The string of new commitment predictions started early last week when On3 submitted a Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) pick for Peter Gonzalez. Gonzalez, son of former Steeler Pete Gonzalez, is a fast-rising three-star prospect out of Pittsburgh. The Central Catholic standout has been trending to Penn State for a while, even before On3 put in an RPM last week. The Nittany Lions are now on commitment watch after Gonzalez visited Happy Valley this past weekend.
The name that put Penn State fans into a frenzy this weekend was Tyseer Denmark. The four-star receiver, who had been committed to Oregon since November, unexpectedly popped up on campus Saturday. Quickly, both 247Sports and On3 predicted that Denmark would flip his commitment to Penn State. By day’s end Sunday, Denmark had officially decommitted from Oregon’s 2024 class. The Philadelphia prospect has been described as a “generational” talent by his high school coaching staff and could be one of the biggest gets for the Nittany Lions at the position this cycle.
On Monday afternoon, 247Sports put in another crystal ball prediction for Penn State, this time for four-star Josiah Brown. Brown, officially listed as an athlete, is the No.1 player in New York and is expected to play wide receiver at the college level. The prediction comes after Brown also visited Penn State this weekend.
Nittany Lions trending toward several defensive line prospects after promising weekend
James Franklin and staff attacked one of their other biggest needs, the defensive line, with this recruiting weekend as well. Monday morning, we reported that Penn State was expected to land three-star lineman De’Andre Cook over several ACC, Big 12, and Big 10 schools. Cook is a top-five player out of the District of Columbia for this cycle and saw Penn State this weekend after a string of official visits this month.
247Sports soon followed up this commitment prediction with a second for another top defensive lineman who was on campus this weekend. T.A. Cunningham is a four-star prospect out of Miami, Florida, and a top-30 defensive lineman in the 2024 cycle. Although he was trending towards the Miami Hurricanes for quite some time, Cunningham’s visit to Penn State is his only official visit to date.
Finally, a flurry of commitment predictions ended Monday when On3 put in an RPM for four-star Benedict Umeh to end up in Happy Valley. Originally from Canada, Umeh is a top-10 defensive lineman and the top player in Connecticut for 2024. In a similar trend, Umeh is expected to land at Penn State after visiting campus this weekend.
If and when any of these prospects will pull the trigger and commit is yet to be seen. But if this past weekend is any indication, the Nittany Lions appear to be in for a very busy commitment season in June and July.
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