Top 100 recruit, Oregon commit attends Penn State-UCLA matchup

Former Penn State football target and 2025 Oregon commit Brandon Finney was back in Happy Valley for the Nittany Lions’ battle with UCLA on Saturday afternoon.

The McDonogh (Maryland) cornerback committed to Oregon at the end of a competitive recruiting battle in June. Finney appeared to be trending towards the Nittany Lions until the day of his commitment before a last-minute turn of events put Dan Lanning and the Ducks over the top.

Also in attendance was four-star Oregon CB commit Brandon Finney, who attends Maryland’s McDonogh School, a major Penn State pipeline pic.twitter.com/wRSEl2kj0h

— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) October 5, 2024

A four-star and the top player from Maryland, Brandon Finney is the No. 10 cornerback and the No. 77 player regardless of position in On3’s 2025 recruiting rankings.

Saturday was Finney’s first trip back to State College since his official visit in May. He also visited Michigan in September.

Top in-state wide receiver also visits Penn State on Saturday

© Alex Disabella / Basic Blues Nation, 2024.

Also in attendance for Saturday’s win over UCLA was Susquehanna Township wide receiver Lex Cyrus. The top receiver in Pennsylvania, Cyrus chose South Carolina over Penn State football in July. Cyrus is the 18th-ranked pass catcher and No. 109 prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle.

By hosting Finney and Cyrus, James Franklin appears determined to add to his already impressive flip list for the 2025 class. The Nittany Lions have flipped in-state linebacker Cam Smith and Virginia receiver Matthew Outten from Duke and Virginia Tech, respectively, in the last two months.

“If it came down to us at another school, and we reach out, or the kid tells us, ‘Hey, I want you to keep recruiting me,’ then we’ll keep recruiting him,” James Franklin said of the Nittany Lions’ strategy for recruiting committed players recently. “So I think your point is a good one, is we only have so many resources, and you got to make sure that the time you’re spending is time well spent.

“And so to me, it’s were we legitimately in it? Is the kid receptive? Is the kid open? And do you feel like, you know, you got a legitimate chance to get him before signing day? We’re not a negative recruiting team. We’re not a team that’s going to go after other people’s recruits just to go after other people’s recruits. It’s about a guy we’ve had a ton of time invested in and they still want to be recruited and we feel like we got a shot.”

According to On3, Penn State football has the No. 16 class in the 2025 recruiting cycle.

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