On Wednesday, five-star offensive tackle Immanuel Iheanacho announced that he will head to Penn State as one of his five official visits prior to his senior season. Iheanacho is the second-ranked offensive tackle in the 2026 high school class and the third-ranked overall player by 247Sports composite rankings.
The Baltimore native included the Nittany Lions in his top 11 schools as he slowly narrows down his recruiting, but locking in an official visit was an even better sign for James Franklin and his staff in Happy Valley. Iheanacho will also take trips to Georgia, Oregon, Alabama, and Maryland.
Penn State has traditionally dominated Maryland on the recruiting trail and had plenty of success in the Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia areas. However, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley punched back a bit in the 2025 recruiting cycle, landing four-star Philadelphia native Zahir Mathis after the edge rusher de-committed from Ohio State.
Franklin was once the coach in waiting in College Park before he was passed over for the job and left for Vanderbilt before eventually landing in Happy Valley. That history has added to the animosity between the two programs on the field, which bubbled up again in 2024 as the Nittany Lions poured it on the Terps late in the fourth quarter with backups in against Locksley’s starting defense. Now, with a talented crop of players in Maryland in the 2026 class, the one-sided rivalry will heat up on the recruiting trail.
In addition to the battle for Iheanacho, Penn State has focused much of its 2026 recruiting efforts on flipping five-star Maryland commit Zion Elee. Another Baltimore native, Elee is a 6-foot-4 225-pound edge rusher, who is the No. 4 player in 247Sports composite rankings, one spot behind Iheanacho.
If the Nittany Lions can land both five-stars, 2026 will likely be Penn State’s best class since landing Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton, Dani Dennis-Sutton, and Abdul Carter in 2022.