Penn State flips No. 1 recruit in Pennsylvania from Big Ten rival

Penn State head coach James Franklin has been relentless in his pursuit of Pennsylvania high school recruits in his time with the program. At times it has been a struggle for Franklin, seeing the top Pennsylvania recruits scurry off to schools like Ohio State and other cream-of-the-crop college programs, but on Friday afternoon, Franklin got 2025’s best.

Andrew Olesh is a four-star tight-end recruit from Center Valley, Pennsylvania who has been committed to Michigan since the summer. In 247sports's composite rankings, Olesh is ranked 59th overall in the 2025 class and the 3rd tight end. Olesh will be Penn State’s highest recruit in their 2025 class, barring any other flips. 

This is massive for Penn State, as Olesh is the No. 1 ranked player in the state for the 2025 class. Before Olesh’s commitment, Penn State was only able to land three of the top ten players in the state; Jabree Wallace-Coleman, a running back from Philadelphia, Alex Tatsch, a linebacker from Latrobe, and Cameron Smith, a linebacker from Philadelphia. Penn State now sits as the 17th overall 2025 class in 247sports’s team rankings, and 15th in On3’s team rankings.

Penn State has continued to produce great tight ends in recent times. Since 2015, the Nittany Lions have had five tight ends drafted. Those five are Jesse James, Mike Gesicki, Pat Freiermuth, Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson. And in about five months, superstar tight end Tyler Warren will be added to that list.

Andrew Ivins, 247sports Director of Scouting, evaluated Olesh this past summer. He describes Olesh as a “Three-level pass catcher with a favorable combination of measurables and traits that has a chance to emerge as a game-changing combo tight end on Saturdays,” he continues that Olesh, “Mixes gears well as a route runner and turned heads at the Elite 11 Finals with his dynamic cuts, large catch radius, and superb body control.”

Olesh will join 2024 five-star Luke Reynolds and current redshirt junior Khalil Dinkins as Penn State’s top tight ends for next season. He will be Penn State's third tight end commit in the 2025 class, alongside four-star Matt Henderson and three-star Brian Kortovich.

This is a fantastic sign for Franklin and his staff to convince Olesh to stay home and play for the blue and white. Time will tell if Franklin is able to pull of any more magic before this chaotic time in college football concludes.