Penn State Football finds its 2023 quarterback in Jaxon Smolik

Penn State football added another key member to its 2023 recruiting class on Friday. 

Quarterback Jaxon Smolik committed to Penn State football on Friday, just a day after decommitting from Tulane.

The 3-star was at Penn State a few weekends back to compete in a camp and it looks like that one visit was enough for the Nittany Lions to win him over.

Smolik fills the void left by Marcus Stokes, who flipped his commitment from Penn State to Florida back in July.

There certainly was a bit of a concern about quarterbacks coach Mike Yurcich being able to find a viable replacement this late in the cycle, but the second-year offensive coordinator came through.

Smolik wasn’t a nationally known prospect, but that changed in June when he took part in the Elite 11 Finals and ended up being a part of the final 11. After that, Power Five programs started to take notice.

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Smolik is from West Des Moines, IA. Despite being in the middle of Iowa, neither Iowa State nor Iowa showed enough interest to offer him. Penn State will now look to make them regret that decision.

Rated as the No. 38 quarterback in the country according to the 247 Sports composite, Smolik had been committed to Tulane since June 23. Tulane’s staff had to realize that something like this was very likely to happen after Smolik’s showing at the Elite 11.

Smolik is now slated to join a talented quarterback room next year with Christian Veilleux, Drew Allar and Beau Pribula already there. All four guys may not be there when the 2023 season kicks off, but that’s a conversation for a different day.

Penn State’s 2023 class now has 19 commits and ranks tenth in the national rankings. Smolik joins Carmelo Taylor as the second commit for the Nittany Lions this week.