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Penn State Football recruiting: Why Dani Dennis-Sutton’s commitment matters

By Alec Whitaker

Penn State head coach James Franklin high-fives fans after a NCAA Big Ten Conference football game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Penn State, Saturday, Oct., 12, 2019, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.191012 Penn St Iowa Fb 077 Jpg
Penn State head coach James Franklin high-fives fans after a NCAA Big Ten Conference football game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Penn State, Saturday, Oct., 12, 2019, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.191012 Penn St Iowa Fb 077 Jpg /
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Dani Dennis-Sutton’s commitment to the Nittany Lions is a bit of a watershed moment for Penn State Football recruiting under coach James Franklin 

Penn State football landed one of the best defensive recruits in the country on Thursday with the addition of Dani Dennis-Sutton.

Dennis-Sutton is considered one of the most college-ready recruits in the 2022 cycle, and that bods well for the Nittany Lions considering the future of their defensive end depth was murky.

The 2022 class has been a breathe of fresh air for Penn State Football fans, after the struggles in the 2021 cycle. Many of those fans know just how important it was to add Dennis-Sutton to this class.

With that in mind, let’s dive into why these recruitments meant so much to the Penn State Football staff and fans.

James Franklin Reminds Everyone He’s Still Got It

There was some concern about James Franklin in 2020.

He looked disinterested at times on the field and the Lions’ 0-5 start was not an easy pill to swallow.

Recruiting- Franklin’s strong point- suffered as well, as the Nittany Lions lost out on multiple top targets in the 2021 class.

It looks as though that weird time in Franklin’s career is behind him.

Franklin has collected 21 commits for his 2022 class already, which comfortably sits second in the national rankings. Franklin has beat out the likes of Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan for some of his highest rated recruits in this class.

Despite this, the Dennis-Sutton recruitment presented challenges Franklin rarely has faced and won, Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.

The head coaches of the SEC powerhouses, Alabama and Georgia, are considered two of the top five best coaches in the country when it comes to recruiting. The two schools were firmly in the mix for Dennis-Sutton and seemed to desire him as bad as the Nittany Lions did.

While Penn State Football had numerous advantages in this recruitment, including proximity and prior relationships, a seven time national champion like Saban can erase those advantages rather quickly.

Penn State knew this was a recruitment they had to win, and they ended up doing so. Franklin held off Saban and Smart and landed an elite player at a position of need, there isn’t any reason to worry about Franklin’s recruiting efforts gong forward.

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