Penn State football recruiting building for a bright future
Penn State football’s 2023 recruiting class received a massive jolt of Thursday with the addition of offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier.
In the composite rankings, Birchmeier is ranked 42nd, while 247 Sports ranks him 19th overall, which is good for 5-star status, although 247 Sports only has one 2023 recruit rated as a 5-star so far.
While Birchmeier cannot sign with Penn State for 17 months, his commitment still has a ton of significance for Penn State and its future recruiting efforts.
Let’s take a look at what Birchmeier’s commitment means for the Nittany Lions recruiting future.
Penn State football’s next great peer recruiter
Penn State has had plenty of great peer recruiters over the years.
Shane Simmons led the way in the 2016 class, while Landon Tengwall was a vocal leader in 2021, and now we are seeing practically the entire 2022 class take on the role of recruiter.
The first commit in a class is often seen as the leader, but it also helps when that commit is a nationally regarded prospect, like Birchmeier.
Penn State has numerous top targets in the Mid-Atlantic region for Birchmeier to recruit. Just in Pennsylvania, there is 4-star safety Rahmir Stewart, 4-star linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson, 4-star athlete Rodney Gallagher, 4-star linebacker Semaj Bridgeman, 4-star linebacker Josiah Trotter, 4-star cornerback Shawn Battle, and 4-star running back Marquese Williams.
There are some notable targets a little closer to Birchmeier’s home in Virginia as well. They include two notable Maryland targets in 5-star defensive end Jason Moore and 4-star offensive lineman Antonio Tripp. Washington D.C. is home to two 4-star targets in athlete Nyckoles Harbor and defensive lineman David Ojiegbe.
In terms of guys who also play offensive line, Chase Bisontis is a 5-star from New Jersey and Samson Okunlola is a high 4-star from Massachusetts.
There certainly isn’t a lack of options for Birchmeier to target and with the amount of respect a highly ranked prospect like Birchmeier receives, he should have plenty of success.