Penn State commit Kaden Saunders recruiting others to join Nittany Lions

Penn State Football fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

The top ranked recruit in Penn State’s sixth ranked recruiting class, Kaden Saunders has officially shut down his recruitment.

In a tweet Thursday morning, Saunders said,

"Locked in!!! As one of the leaders of this class I want to help recruit more guys to keep building something special."

Head coach James Franklin and his offensive staff have to be pleased to hear this come from the 4-star wide receiver.

Although he has been committed to the Nittany Lions since July of last year, that didn’t stop big name schools from targeting him.

Notre Dame was a big threat for Saunders, as they were a finalist for him at the time of his commitment. They made another run at him around the time Penn State changed offensive coordinators, but new coordinator Mike Yurcich helped keep Saunders solid. It also helped that Penn State landed 4-star quarterback Drew Allar during this battle.

In addition to Notre Dame, Florida State made a run at him as well. Florida State quarterback commit Nicco Marchiol often tweeted at Saunders and in some instances went as far as to tweet graphics of Saunders in a Seminoles jersey.

The biggest scare for Penn State fans had to come in February. While in the middle of fending off Notre Dame, Alabama joined the fray and offered Saunders. When a wide receiver factory like Alabama offers, there’s definitely some reason to worry.

Franklin, Yurcich and the rest of the staff were able to fend off these big name schools and the work they did behind the scenes is now public with Saunders officially shutting it down.

The significance of Saunders shutting down his recruitment to help recruit others is hard to quantify.

Having a big-name recruit like him out there on social media, at the camps, on visits constantly talking good about your school to other recruits is an added bonus to Penn State’s immense recruiting efforts.

The timing also couldn’t be better. We’re two weeks away from recruits being back on Penn State’s campus for the first time since early March of 2020; Penn State now has their top commit out there as a recruiter.

This also most likely shuts the door on other programs offering him, most notably his hometown school, Ohio State.

Signing Day is seven months away, and James Franklin was able to get one of the most sought after recruits in the North to totally shut down his recruitment. The effort the staff put in there cannot be overstated.