Breaking: Dani Dennis-Sutton Commits to Penn State Football

Penn State football picked up a commitment from their top target in defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton on Thursday.

The composite 4-star picked the Nittany Lions over Georgia and Alabama, making this a massive victory for head coach James Franklin and staff.

Dennis-Sutton has long been considered the top defensive target-and possibly top overall target- for Penn State in the 2022 class. The reasons for that include the fact that he attends one of Penn State’s best pipelines in the McDonogh School in Maryland and that he plays defensive end, a position of need for Penn State.

The 6-foot-5, 250 pound Dennis-Sutton is ranked as the 50th best player in the country according to the 247 Sports composite. Rivals ranks Dennis-Sutton higher than everyone else, giving him 5-star status and the No. 1 defensive end in the country.

With depth concerns at defensive end for Penn State, grabbing a plug and play type player like Dennis-Sutton was almost a necessity. Dennis-Sutton is considered one of the more college ready players from a physical standpoint in the entire country.

This has been a long  battle for the Nittany Lions that began when they offered him back in May of 2019. Penn State was always seen as the favorite due to his proximity to the school along with having  other McDonogh grads like PJ Mustipher, Dvon Ellies and Curtis Jacobs playing for Penn State, but recruiting against Nick Saban and Kirby Smart rarely has a positive outcome for anyone.

A big assist in this recruitment has to go to recruiting director Kenny Sanders. Sanders is a McDonogh alum himself and Franklin’s decision to bring him back on the staff in the Winter no doubt helped with Dennis-Sutton.

With Dennis-Sutton on board, Penn State now has 21 commits in their 2022 class, which ranks second nationally, only trailing Ohio State.

Dennis-Sutton joins an impressive defensive end haul for defensive line coach John Scott Jr, which also features 4-stars Tyreese Fearbry and Ken Talley.

Franklin and staff have been on an absolute tear in July. Dennis-Sutton is the ninth 2022 recruit to commit to Penn State during the month.