Penn State Football: final thoughts on Nittany Lions’ historic 2022 Class
6. Star power
Penn State Football’s 2022 class finished up with three composite 5-stars, this ties the 2018 class for the most 5-stars in a recruiting class in program history.
The trio of Drew Allar, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Nick Singleton were all rated as 5-stars by both 247 Sports and On3. In addition to the 5-stars, there was 13 composite 4-stars in the class and nine composite 3-stars.
With 16 five and four-star recruits in the class, the ‘blue chip recruit’ ratio in the class comes to 64 percent, which is a really good number. Schools like Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia get up into the 80-90 percent range, but even Michigan, the Big Ten champs, had only a 44 percent blue-chip ratio in this cycle.
Penn State Football also landed at least one 4-star at every position, something they have not done often before.
- Quarterback: Drew Allar (5-star)
- Running back: Nick Singleton (5-star) Kaytron Allen (4-star)
- Wide Receiver: Kaden Saunders (4-star) Anthony Ivey (4-star)
- Tight end: Jerry Cross (4-star)
- Offensive line: Drew Shelton (4-star) JB Nelson (4-star)
- Defensive end: Dani Dennis-Sutton (5-star) Ken Talley (4-star)
- Defensive tackle: Zane Durant (4-star)
- Linebacker: Abdul Carter (4-star)
- Safety: K.J. Winston (4-star)
- Cornerback: Cam Miller (4-star)
- Athlete: Mehki Flowers (4-star) Cristian Driver (4-star)
In addition to this, Penn State Football landed the No. 3 punter in the country in Alex Bacchetta.
While these numbers are impressive, the next step is for Franklin to start to replicate classes like this one. If Penn State wants to break through to the College Football Playoff, being able to consistently recruit at this level will go a long way in getting there.