Penn State Football Recruiting: Lasch Bash Preview
By Marty Leap
This weekend is the biggest weekend of the summer for Penn State football recruiting: the yearly Lasch Bash recruiting BBQ.
James Franklin and his coaching staff are preparing for the most important weekend of the summer for Penn State Football recruiting. In fact, this weekend is one of the most important recruiting weekends of the calendar year for the Nittany Lions. This weekend is the Lasch Bash recruiting BBQ.
The Nittany Lions will host an incredibly talented group of players on campus this weekend. Uncommitted players from the 2018, 2019, and 2020 recruiting class will all be on hand. Furthermore, most of the Penn State’s 2018 commits will be on campus as well.
The Penn State staff will hope to secure a verbal commitment or two this weekend. To be honest, it would not be a surprise if there were more than two. Weekends like this will also play a large role in commitments that the Nittany Lions will receive down the road.
As always on weekends like this one, the following list is not the complete visitor list. However, it is one that I have been able to put together via social media, free outlets such as PennLive, and talking to people in the know.
Class of 2018 commits
RB – Ricky Slade
WR – Justin Shorter
OT – Nana Asiedu
TE – Zack Kuntz
DE – Dorian Hardy
TE – Pat Freiermuth
LB/DL – Nick Tarburton
LB – Jesse Luketa
OL – AJ Reed
S – Isaiah Humphries
CB – Trent Gordon
LB – Charlie Katshir
OT – Bryce Efferent
With the exception of cornerback Jordan Miner, all of Penn State’s class of 2018 commits will be on campus this weekend. Getting current commits around uncommitted prospects is always a great thing and will always help with landing new commitments. Look for the class of 2018 commits to put in some serious work this weekend.
Uncommitted class of 2018 recruits
ATH – Shaquon Anderson-Butts
OT – TJ Bradley
WR – Daniel George
DT – Aeneas Hawkins
DE – Jayson Oweh
DT – PJ Mustipher
S – Kwantel Raines
DL – Tyreke Smith
OT – Rasheed Walker
S – Isheem Young
The most exciting group of the weekend are the uncommitted class of 2018 recruits. As you can see above it is a very deep and talented group. It is a group that could feature multi future Nittany Lions.
Four-star safety Isheem Young is scheduled to announce his college decision on Tuesday. To be honest, it would not be a surprise if Young has already committed to the staff and the other commits know it. It would be a complete shock if he committed to any school other than Penn State on Tuesday.
As for this weekend, there are players on this list on commit watch. Shaquon Anderson-Butts, TJ Bradley, Daniel George, and PJ Mustipher are all players Penn State appears to be the heavy leader for and could land a commitment from this weekend. The Nittany Lions also lead for Rasheed Walker, but he does not appear ready to wrap up his recruitment just yet.
Jayson Oweh and Tyreke Smith are two players Penn State are in dogfights for. Smith has a top group of Ohio State, Penn State, and USC. Meanwhile, Oweh is focusing on the Buckeyes, Nittany Lions, and Notre Dame.
The Nittany Lions have ground to make up for each player. However, this weekend is a great opportunity for Penn State to do that. Especially with Oweh who the Nittany Lions were early leaders for.
Uncommitted class of 2019/2020 recruits
CB – Keaton Ellis
CB – Nyquee Hawkins
RB – Jordan Houston
DE – Brandon Smith
S – Tykee Smith
OL – Caedan Wallace
WR – Julian Fleming (2020 recruit)
Penn State’s 2019 recruiting class does not have a commitment yet. However, it would not be a shocker if that changed this weekend. Players such as Nyquee Hawkins, Jordan Houston, and Caedan Wallace have all already visited Penn State a ton. Also, Keaton Ellis is a State College native that is about as slum dunk a recruit as James Franklin and company will ever have.
The most talented player on this list is Julian Fleming. The Catawissa native and Southern Columbia star is a potential 5-star player in the 2020 recruiting class. On top of Penn State, he already holds offers from Michigan and Michigan State out of the Big Ten.
Julian Fleming will be at least a top-100, if not top 20-50 player in the 2020 recruiting class. Early on in his recruitment, he is extremely high on Penn State. The more often the Nittany Lions get him on campus in the coming years the better their odds of signing him in February of 2020 will be.
Next: Justin Shorter Earns 5th Star
That will do it for the Lasch Bash preview. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all the latest news in the world of Penn State football recruiting. Especially with what should be an exciting few days looming.