Penn State Football: final thoughts on Nittany Lions’ historic 2022 Class
National Signing Day closed the book, officially, on one of Penn State Football’s most impressive recruiting classes of the James Franklin era
Penn State Football officially closed the book on the 2022 recruiting class on Wednesday with the signatures of Tyrece Mills and Vega Ioane.
Mills was the only commit in the class who did not sign during the early signing period in December. Ioane was a pleasant Signing Day surprise for the Nittany Lions as he committed over Washington and others despite only visiting Penn State once.
With these two now officially signed, one of the best-recruiting cycles in program history comes to a close.
The 25-member class finished sixth in the national rankings according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. This ties the 2018 class as the highest-rated recruiting class of the James Franklin era.
Considering the Nittany Lions have gone 11-11 the past two seasons, landing a class of this magnitude is quite impressive. The 2018 class came on the heels of Penn State going 22-5 with a conference championship the two seasons prior.
Let’s take a look at what stands out the most from Penn State Football’s loaded recruiting class.
1. James Franklin Finally got his man
This point feels like beating a dead horse by now, but Franklin finally has his marquee quarterback recruit in Drew Allar.
After struggling to find an elite-level quarterback recruit for all of his tenure, Franklin ends up with the 5-star Allar, who is ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the country by 247 Sports. Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was the one who identified Allar as a must-get target a year ago, when Allar was only a 3-star. This was an impressive scouting job by Yurcich.
With comparisons to Josh Allen and the lofty ranking, it’s easy to see why Penn State Football fans are so excited about Allar. He’s not a finished product yet, but he has all the makings of a great one.
Allar may have all the hype, and rightfully so, but this was a two-quarterback class.
Beau Pribula has flown under the radar since Allar joined the class last March, but the York, Pa product was one of the first commits in Penn State’s 2022 class and helped peer recruit the likes of Anthony Ivey, Drew Shelton and Nick Singleton.
Pribula put up monster numbers in his final two seasons of high school and has shown that he’s not too shabby either. Penn State should be very pleased that they landed both of these guys, as it’s very likely that the two will be the man under center for the Nittany Lions from 2023 to 2026.
The two quarterbacks should also be pleased with the job the staff did to surround them with weapons. The Nittany Lions landed one of the fastest wide receiver hauls in the nation with Kaden Saunders, Anthony Ivey, Tyler Johnson and Omari Evans.