Four-star tight end announces his commitment to Penn State football

The Penn State football team extended almost 20 offers to class of 2026 tight ends, and up until Wednesday, June 25, those 19 student-athletes were slowly plucked out of head coach James Franklin's reach.

The Nittany Lions finally landed their first tight end from the class Wednesday afternoon. The Minnesota native is ready to find a new home in Happy Valley.

"Let's go, home," tight end Pierce Petersohn wrote in response to On3's Hayes Fawcett's commitment post.

Tight end Pierce Petersohn commits to Penn State

Petersohn is a four-star recruit from Dodge Center, Minnesota and is ranked the No. 342 overall recruit from his class. 247Sports Composite rankings also have him ranked as the No. 21 overall athlete and No. 3 recruit from his state.

He narrowed his list down to two: Penn State and Minnesota. These are the only two schools Petersohn had official visits with. He visited Happy Valley almost a month after seeing Minnesota's campus, which he visited on May 30.

The Gophers had two tight ends committed already, so even though they had a home-state advantage, the six-foot-five-inch tight end had all the room in the world with the Nittany Lions to prove himself.

Outside of tight end, Petersohn also played under center. As quarterback at Triton High School, as listed in his scouting report, he threw for 1,479 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also had 382 rushing yards and an additional nine touchdowns during his junior year.

The multi-sport athlete also played basketball and ran track as a junior. On the court, he had an average of 29 points per game, 13 rebounds per game, and four assists per game. During track season, he was the MVP of the Minnesota State Track Meet, running an 11.24 in the 100 meter, a 22.18 in the 200 meter, and a 48.16 in the 400 meter. In the high-jump event, he had a six-foot-four-inch finish.

Franklin hasn't had the best luck with recruitment this go around with many of his prime targets committing elsewhere. Now with Petersohn switching up the momentum, the Nittany Lions can go through the rest of this busy decision week with a bit more confidence.

Defensive end Jackson Ford and defensive tackle Damari Simeon will make their announcements on Friday.

Aside from Penn State, four-star Ford is considering Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan too. The Nittany Lions are predicted to the be the favorite in this race. The four-star tackle also has four schools in consideration with Michigan, Texas, and Ohio State also in the running. At the moment, there aren't any Crystal Ball® Predictions as to where Simeon is leaning.