Notre Dame steals Pennsylvania 5-star EDGE right out of Penn State's backyard

Penn State football continued whiffing on blue-chip recruits on Tuesday. Five-star edge rusher Abraham Sesay announced his commitment on June 16 before his official visits even concluded. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, they not only lost this recruitment battle, but a familiar foe took him right out of Pennsylvania.

Sesay committed to Notre Dame, which is the program's second prospect from Pennsylvania alongside four-star offensive tackle James Halter. The Fighting Irish have the No. 5 overall class, per 247Sports, while Penn State's struggles to break back into the top 10.

The defensive end's decision came down to Notre Dame, LSU, Florida State, South Carolina, Duke, and Penn State. He had official visits penciled in with the Tigers, Fighting Irish, and Seminoles. Sesay's Florida State visit was coming up this weekend, June 19-21. Though he didn't have an official visit scheduled with the Nittany Lions initially, Sesay took six unofficial visits over his recruitment period, which included a spring practice visit on April 14.

Five-star edge rusher Abraham Sesay commits to Notre Dame over Penn State

Per 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins, Sesay had 13 sacks as a junior in 2025. He also has experience playing basketball and running track.

Ivins described him as a "long and fluid edge defender that has a chance to be a havoc-creator." He also noted Sesay's speed and accuracy limiting quarterbacks and running backs effectively.

At the end of May, though the Fighting Irish still had the upper-hand in Sesay's recruitment, the Tigers became a legitimate threat to land the edge rusher. Between both head coaches, Lane Kiffin and Marcus Freeman, Penn State was essentially suffocated trying to land a Rivals five-star recruit.

Even knowing this was a tough battle to win, it doesn't make the loss any better. Sesay is ranked No. 27 nationally and No. 6 at edge rusher, according to Rivals Industry Rankings. He's also the third-ranked prospect from Pennsylvania, so this is a huge loss for head coach Matt Campbell.

Campbell has yet to find his footing with in-state recruiting. He also lost out on five-star interior offensive lineman Maxwell Hiller (Florida) and five-star running back Kemon Spell (Georgia), who are the top two recruits from Pennsylvania, respectively. Notre Dame's other committed recruit from the state, Halter, is ranked No. 5 in the state. Campbell is still waiting on No. 4-ranked wide receiver Khalil Taylor.

That's really the major blow is missing out on yet another in-state, highly talented player. Eventually, Campbell has to keep up with the top recruiting powers for Pennsylvania prospects at the very least. His first go-around with the Class of 2027 wasn't going to be smooth sailing, but coming close with a few just to lose them in the end (i.e. Spell and Sesay) can't be a pattern he continues moving forward.

At defensive end, the Nittany Lions have four-star Elijah Guertin and three-star Carter Blattner committed. Guertin is Campbell's most recent commit.

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