Kevin Winston Joins Penn State Football’s 2022 Class

"Kevin Winston became the latest member of Penn State football’s 2022 class on Saturday."

The 3-star safety picked the Nittany Lions over Maryland. It looks as though the Nittany Lions’ loss to Maryland this past season did not hurt this recruitment.

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, Winston has the perfect size for a safety at the next level.

Winston attends the Maryland powerhouse, DeMatha Catholic, a school that Penn State has done well at during James Franklin’s tenure in Happy Valley. The likes of Mark Allen, Shane Simmons, Coziah Izzard and Golden Israel-Achumba are all graduates of DeMatha.

Ranked in the composite as the 45th best safety in nation, 247 Sports was higher on Winston, ranking him as the 34th safety in the 2022 class. In addition to Penn State and Maryland, he held offers from Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Michigan State and Tennessee.

With Winston in the fold, along with Cristian Driver on Thursday, it looks as though Penn State’s 2022 defensive back haul is complete. Winston will join Tyrece Mills at safety while the cornerbacks are Jordan Allen and Cam Miller. Driver and Mehki Flowers fall under the athlete tag and could end up on either defense or offense.

Regardless of who plays where, this is a quality haul for cornerbacks coach Terry Smith and first-year safeties coach Anthony Poindexter. This haul follows up the 2021 class that included 4-stars Kalen King, Zakee Wheatley, Jaylen Reed and 3-star Jeffrey Davis Jr.

Winston is the 23rd member of Penn State’s 2022 class, which ranks second in the nation behind Ohio State. The Nittany Lions probably have at most four spots left, but have multiple needs to fill at linebacker, offensive line and possibly wide receiver and defensive end as well.

Including Tyreese Fearbry, who has since decommitted, Penn State has landed commitments from 12 2022 recruits in July.