2025 Penn State football commit, WPIAL star wins coveted Mr. PA Football award

Penn State football continues to search for the top talent in the 2025 recruiting class. The Nittany Lions have a strong core of current commits who continue to grow on and off the field. Of course, the goal for James Franklin and his coaching staff is to keep the best talent in PA to stay in PA. The Nittany Lions have achieved that with Tiqwai Hayes, who has been committed to Penn State since September 2023. Now Hayes has brought home a new accolade, winning the 2023 Mr. PA Football award.

2025 Penn State football commit, WPIAL star wins prestigious award

Tiqwai Hayes is a four-star running back recruit in the 2025 recruiting class. The current Penn State football commit locked in his decision on September 25, 2023. While he will have to wait until 2025 to step on campus and suit up for the Nittany Lions, Hayes has recently been awarded the 2023 Mr. PA Football.

The Mr. PA Football Award is given to the best high school football player in Pennsylvania, which speaks to what the Nittany Lions have with Hayes coming in 2025. Ja’Juan Seider has been able to recruit some of the top running backs in the country and develop them into pros, and that appears to be in the early stages with Hayes as well.

“I would like to thank the man above of course for making me be here and giving me the talent and the hard work ethic that I have,” Hayes said upon accepting the award. “Thank you to my godparents for taking me, my teammates, my family members for obviously making me a better person. Everybody counted us out this year, but we pulled through. I would just like to thank everyone for being here and coming to this great event. We are…”

2023 @mrpafootball Big School Players of the Year @Rico_Scott1, Bishop McDevitt and @Tiqwaihayes, Aliquippa@mcd_football_ @bishopmcdevitt @coachweachter @quipathletics @asdquips #PAHSFB @hsfbamerica pic.twitter.com/qOxPqEG7Tu

— EasternPAFootball (@EPAFootball) March 9, 2024

Past Penn State winners of Mr. PA Football

This award is a great honor, and several Nittany Lions have won it in the past. In 2014, Saquon Barkley took home the prize, followed by Michael Shuster and Miles Sanders in 2015. Lamont Wade won the award in 2016; in 2018, it was Daequan Hardy, and then in 2021, Nicholas Singleton brought home the hardware

It’s safe to say that Tiqwai Hayes has himself in great company and looks to have a great career ahead of him at Penn State.

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