Penn State Earns Commitment from 2024 ATH Dejuan Lane

With the first weekend of official visit season wrapping up, Penn State ends the weekend with landing a commitment from 2024 ATH Dejuan Lane, a 4-star prospect according to On3 who attends Gilman high school in Baltimore, Maryland.  

Lane chose Penn State over Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, and Maryland. He’s an interesting prospect in terms of which position he will play at Penn State on his Hudl page he labels himself as an athlete which is a great way to describe his play style. On3 has him listed as a linebacker while 247sports has him listed as a safety.

Regardless of where he ends up playing, when you turn on the tape the first thing you notice is his motor and his speed. To do a player comparison he reminds me a lot of former Clemson Tiger Isaiah Simmons who played safety in college and transitioned to linebacker in the NFL.

Lane has the ability to do both as well, he is currently listed at 6’2 200 lbs so I would imagine the Penn State staff would want him to add more weight if he does move to linebacker in State College. The other interesting thing is he is a kick returner in high school and has tremendous speed. When he has an interception in his hands he is gone to the house, he’s someone that has a high football IQ and could easily be an instant impact player once he gets on campus.

Defensive studs are hard to find but, this seems like one early on. To have a player as skilled as Lane lined up in Manny Diaz’s defense either at linebacker or safety will continue to build Penn State’s brand as LBU or perhaps the Nittany Lions are becoming the next DBU.

The 2024 class continues to put together more and more talent. Currently, the Nittany Lions hold the 7th-ranked class in the 2024 recruiting cycle. As James Franklin as his staff look to obtain another top-10 recruiting class.