Penn State Football: 3 regrets from 2023 recruiting cycle

1. Not being able to hold onto Tomarrion Parker

Penn State surprised a lot of people when it landed 4-star defensive end Tomarrion Parker from Alabama back in June. He really wasn’t that familiar with Penn State before his official visit but was so blown away by the visit that committed soon after.

Unfortunately, Parker would reopen his recruitment in August. He ultimately signed with Clemson.

Parker was top 80 player in the 247 Sports Composite at the time of his commitment to Penn State. His addition came fresh off of Chop Robinson transferring to Penn State and 2022 5-star Dani Dennis-Sutton settling in at campus.

It looked like the Nittany Lions were building a powerhouse at defensive end.

Parker ended the cycle as the No. 49 player in the nation and would have been the second highest rated in Penn State’s class and highest rated on defense.

The Nittany Lions had a solid haul at defensive end, landing top 300 player Jameial Lyons, 4-star Joesph Mupoyi and 3-star Mason Robinson. Having a possible plug and play player like Parker highlighting the group would have been awesome though.

Everyone knew it was going to be an uphill battle for Penn State to hold onto a 4-star from Alabama, and it certainly was. The fact Parker even committed in the first place was quite impressive though.