Penn State Football recruiting: 2023 mock class 1.0

Defensive Tackle (2)

Everything seems to go back to the tight end group.

Mathias Barnwell committed to Penn State as a tight end, then the focus seemed to shift towards the offensive line and now it looks like he will end up at defensive tackle.

In a recent interview with Ryan Snyder of On3, Barnwell stated that he is now focusing on the defensive line as his position in college. Given his size at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, that doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

So, who will join Barnwell on the defensive line?

Highlighting the group is DeMatha Catholic standout, Jason Moore. At 6-foot-6 and 255 pounds, Moore has impressive length for the position and he’s also an above-average athlete, as he plays basketball at DeMatha as well. DeMatha is one of James Franklin’s best pipelines and he has a strong relationship with the staff there.

There are two premier 4-star defensive tackles down in Florida in Derrick LeBlanc and John Walker. A little closer to home there is former Michigan commit Joel Starlings in Virginia and 4-star Sydir Mitchell in New Jersey. Maryland has a few defensive tackle targets in Dashawn Womack, Devan Houston and Brian Simms III. Rounding out the group is Archbishop Wood standout Eric Garnder Jr, the lone Pennsylvania target on this board.

There is not a shortage of options here and because of that, the Nittany Lions will go all out on Moore and then reverse course if needed later in the cycle.

The Picks: Mathias Barnwell & Jason Moore