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Penn State Football Recruiting Roundup: August 11, 2017

By Marty Leap

PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 19: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions looks on against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half at High Point Solutions Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 19: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions looks on against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half at High Point Solutions Stadium on November 19, 2016 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Welcome back to the weekly look at all things Penn State football recruiting here at Victory Bell Rings, the weekly recruiting roundup.

It has certainly been a busy week in the world of Penn State Football recruiting. In the past week the Nittany Lions have picked up three more commitments as they continue to be scorching hot on the recruiting trail.

On top of earning a trio of new commitments, the Nittany Lion coaching staff has also extended some new offers to prospects in the 2019 and 2020 recruiting classes. Also, the 2018 recruiting class is starting to fill up and face a numbers crunch.

Let’s begin the Penn State recruiting roundup, shall we?

Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class grows

In the past week, Penn State has picked up three new commitments in their 2018 recruiting class. Last Friday, four-star offensive lineman Juice Scruggs jumped on board, four-star defensive tackle PJ Mustipher joined him on Monday, and then on Thursday four-star defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins went public with his commitment.

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With these three commitments, Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class now has 23 commits. This puts them fourth in the nation according to the composite team rankings of 247 Sports.

With 23 commits on the board Penn State’s 2018 recruiting class is starting to get squeezed for space. We will cover that more below. To read more about the commitment of Scruggs click here, for Mustipher here, and for Hawkins here.

New offers go out

In the past week James Franklin and his staff have been busy extending new offers to 2019 and 2020 recruits.

The Nittany Lions extended a scholarship offer to a pair of class of 2019 players this past week. Also, they extended an offer to a class of 2020 player.

In the class of 2019, the Nittany Lions extended scholarship offers to safety Lewis Cine and cornerback Marquis Wilson. For the class of 2020, they extended a scholarship offer to defensive tackle Tre’ Williams.

All three of these players have already visited Happy Valley. While there is a long way to go in the recruitment of each, the Nittany Lions will be a contender for each.

Crunching the numbers for 2018

With the run of commitments in the past month numbers have gotten extremely tight in Penn State’s 2018 class. Luckily for the Nittany Lions, minus defensive end they have already filled each position of need in the class.

Penn State currently has 23 commits, odds are, there is no way they can sign more than 25 players in this class. That leaves a max of two more spots. Offensive tackle Rasheed Walker is probably the top remaining target on the board. Walker is viewed as a heavy Penn State lean, and will always have a spot in this class.

The three defensive ends Penn State is still recruiting hard are Jayson Oweh, ex-commit Micah Parsons, and Tyreke Smith. The Nittany Lions are in the top two for each of these players and will get an official visit from each. Additionally, the Nittany Lions are battling their division rival Ohio State Buckeyes for each player.

Penn State would gladly take a commitment from any of these three players. It appears that the player in this group the Nittany Lions are most likely to land is Oweh, while Smith is the least likely. Smith has no timetable for announcing his commitment, while Oweh and Parsons are both set to announce at the Under Armor All-American Game in January.

As the Nittany Lions focus in on those four players, there will leave some very talented players without a spot in this class. Four-star wide receivers Jahan Dotson and Solomon Enis, as well as four-star safety/linebacker Kwantel Raines are players that Penn State should get official visits from but do not have room for currently. This could change though with time.

247 releasing the first op-100 for 2020

On Thursday, 247 Sports released its

first top-100 for the class of 2020. This top-100 features a pair of Nittany Lion targets in the top five.

The number overall player in the country is defensive lineman Bryan Bresee. The Damascus, Maryland, native has already visited Penn State more than every other school he has visited combined. Along with the Nittany Lions, he already holds scholarship offers from Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State, among others. Penn State will be one of the main players for Bresee.

Checking in as the fifth best player in the country for 2020 is wide receiver Julian Fleming. Fleming attends in-state powerhouse Southern Columbia. Like Bresee, he has visited Penn State more than every other school he has visited combined. Fleming has family ties to Penn State, and while this recruitment will drag out for awhile this one should be a layup for James Franklin and company.

Next: Commit Breakdown: Aeneas Hawkins

That will do it for this week. As always, stay tuned here at Victory Bell Rings for all of the latest news in the world of Penn State Football recruiting.

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