Penn State Football’s 2022 Recruiting Class Closing in on major Milestone

Penn State Football’s 2022 recruiting class received another shot in the arm on Monday when 4-star quarterback Drew Allar committed.

With Allar on board, the Nittany Lions‘ 2020 recruiting class ranks fifth nationally and all eight commits are composite four stars. When a recruit is a four or five star, they are considered a blue-chip recruit.

The fact that all of Penn State’s commits are blue chippers, brings up an interesting little snippet.

Seven of the commits are on the offensive side of the ball, meaning they have seven blue-chip recruits on one side of the ball.

That is significant, because the record for blue-chip composite recruits on one side of the ball in a Penn State recruiting class is nine.

The record is shared by three different classes since 247 Sports started ranking all recruits in 2002 in a composite format. The first instance occurred in 2015,  when Penn State had nine blue chippers on the offensive side of the class. The 2018 class would join the 2015 class on offense, while the 2019 class is the only defensive instance.

Th 2019 defensive group has 10 blue chippers when going by 247 Sports rankings, but not by the composite ranking.

The reason that the composite matters a little more is because it is a combination of 247, Rivals and ESPN’s rankings, making the ranking more of a consensus one.

Penn State’s offense in 2022 has a great chance to take the record because they still have five to six more spots to fill on that side of the ball.

They still need two running backs, and their top targets, Nick Singleton, Omarion Hampton, George Pettaway, Gi’Bran Payne and Ramon Brown are all considered blue chippers.

Grabbing two of them would take the number to nine, tying the record.

The Nittany Lions are still in the hunt for a couple more offensive line targets, as well. The majority of their targets are four stars. That list includes Tyler Booker, Gunner Givens, Ryan Brubaker and Jacob Allen. Just one of them would break the record.

As for receivers and tight ends, Penn State may take another pass-catcher. Mehki Flowers is listed as a receiver, but he may play safety at the next level. That would mean the offense group only has six current blue-chip recruits, but for now he’s on offense.

The group of 4-star receivers that Penn State is still targeting includes Darrius Clemons, Andre Greene Jr. and Samuel Mbake.

As for tight end, after losing 4-star Holden Staes, they may just stay put with 4-star Jerry Cross still committed.

Getting to this milestone would be a notable accomplishment in head coach James Franklin’s career, as he has put a great emphasis on recruiting throughout his tenure. After a 4-5 season, not many expected Franklin and his staff to make strides like this in recruiting.