James Franklin details addition of reclassified edge Daniel Jennings

Last month, 2026 edge rusher Daniel Jennings announced his plan to reclassify to the class of 2025 and join Penn State football this summer. Over the weekend, the Princeton (WV) standout put pen to paper, signing his national letter of intent.

The newest Nittany Lion will be added to the roster in the coming weeks. Even with the reclassification, Jennings remained the No. 1 prospect out of the state of West Virginia.

It’s officially official, @DanielJennings_ is going to @PennStateFball 🏈🖊️

Jennings signed his NLI today in Maybeury, WV. Jennings will be going to the Nittany Lions one year earlier than intended from @PSHSTigersFball

Hear from Jennings tonight on @WVVASPORTS . #wvprepfb pic.twitter.com/qP2O5ij6eM

— Jon Surratt (@JonSurratt) June 8, 2025

But what went into the decision to arrive in Happy Valley a year early? It was a move driven primarily by Jennings and his family, says James Franklin.

“Part of it, I think, is he lost his high school coach,”Franklin said last week. “High school coach left, and basically felt like, in some ways, he was ready. I think he was the Player of the Year in West Virginia. I think he was the number one ranked player in the state in West Virginia. They moved him up the year before and re-ranked him, and he was the number one player as a junior in the state.

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“So once they wanted to do that, then it was ‘Okay, is there a way to make this work, to fulfill your responsibilities for graduation of high school from an NCAA perspective and from a Penn State perspective?’ And then once we realized we could check all those boxes, we said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ And I think for them, it’s like, what’s more valuable? Even worst case scenario, playing a senior year or worst case scenario, redshirting at Penn State, although he’s going to have the opportunity to come in and compete, I think they felt like, we’re going to base this decision off worst case scenario. And him being here and being in our weight program and nutrition program and getting an extra year of school started ahead of time, I just think they felt like the value of it.

“I think the other thing is, he’s not like a 205-pound defensive end. We’ve taken some kids that were 205 pounds and they had to grow into it. He’s already over 250 pounds. So I think those things played a factor into it as well. But it wasn’t us. It was something he wanted to do.”

Even if playing time is limited in 2025, Jennings will add depth to a young Nittany Lions defensive end room. Last week, Penn State lost rising redshirt freshman Max Granville to injury. A talented prospect who joined the program a year early last summer, Granville was expected to factor into the rotation behind Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zuriah Fisher.

“Other guys are going to have to step up now,” said Franklin. “We’ll see how that all plays out. Kind of early to say at this stage, but between obviously, Dani and Fisher, and Harvey and Mason Robinson and [Mylachi] Williams and [Enai] White and [Yvan] Kemajou and there’s some guys in that room, [Dayshaun] Burnett, that was here in the spring, and then some guys that just showed up as well.

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