For much of his tenure, James Franklin has recruited as a top 20, but not quite top 10 program in the country, but he’s ramped things up in the 2026 class. Penn State has the No. 5-ranked class with 16 commitments, and after a massive weekend of official visits, the Nittany Lions are trending to pick up another from four-star cornerback Dorian Barney.
The Carrollton, Georgia, product who grew up in Erie, PA, was one of 10 recruits on official visits last weekend, and has been heavily pursued by Michigan throughout his recruitment process. However, on Monday, ON3’s Steve Wiltfong logged a prediction for Barney to land with the Nittany Lions with a 60% confidence level.
Penn State firmly in the lead for 2026 4-star Dorian Barney
With David Davis and Julian Peterson, Franklin and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith have recruited the cornerback position well in the 2026 cycle, but both of those players carry just three-star ratings. Barney would be one of the prizes of the 2026 class as the 150th best player in the class according to 247Sports Composite Rankings and the 15th best corner.
With the level that Franklin has been recruiting at in this cycle, there could actually be more urgency from Barney to commit to the Nittany Lions if he wants to end up in Happy Valley than for Penn State to land this commitment immediately. Penn State is also clearly in the mix and arguably the front-runner for two other elite cornerbacks ranked higher than Barney in the 247Composite Rankings, who also already took their official visits: Brandon Arrington and Khary Adams.
Arrington was the first arrival of the summer official visit season at Penn State and is the No. 1 cornerback in the 2026 class. His commitment announcement is set for July 5, and he is arguably the top target for Penn State’s coaching staff in this cycle. Adams was also on the May 16 official visit and is a top 100 recruit nationally.
Penn State is in a great position with multiple cornerbacks, which is a position of long-term need even after adding Daryus Dixson in last year’s class. Adding a commitment from Barney would be a huge addition to the 2026 class, but he’s far from the only coveted cornerback who could call Happy Valley home in the very near future.