Blue White Illustrated

For daily and breaking news updates on Penn State football recruiting, visit bwi.rivals.com. Following an April windfall, PSU looks to maintain its momentum J ames Franklin and his coaching sta9 enjoyed a pretty good recruiting week in mid-April. Heading into it, Penn State had only three commitments in its Class of 2021, the most recent being of- fensive lineman Landon Tengwall, who announced for the Nittany Lions on March 26. Even a:er Tengwall joined, the Lions were ranked ninth in the Big Ten – not the kind of start that many fans envisioned. A few days later, though, many of those same fans were applauding. Safety Jaylen Reed committed on April 9, and two more Detroit natives – linebacker Kobe King and his twin brother, cornerback Kalen King – announced their decisions the following day. When another safety prospect, Zakee Wheatley, learned of the sta9's momentum at defensive back, he also decided to jump on board, commit- ting less than an hour a:er the King brothers. Just like that, the Lions had landed four new commitments in a span of 22 hours, three of whom held four-star ratings. And assistant coaches Terry Smith and Tim Banks weren't done, adding another defensive back a week later when Connecticut resident Je9rey Davis Jr. announced for PSU. The surge jumped Penn State up to No. 12 in the Rivals Team Rankings. When you look at the average star rating, the Nittany Lions were eighth overall when compared to teams that also had at least six commitments. Not a bad start. So, who could be next? Defensive backs and linebackers are among the sta9's key targets going for- ward. Defensive coordinator Brent Pry would like to sign Michigan native Jamari Buddin. Publicly, Buddin is down to seven schools: Penn State, Boston Col- lege, Florida State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Purdue. But sources have suggested that he's likely to sign with either the Wolverines or Nit- tany Lions. A Rivals250 prospect from Belleville, Buddin continues to say that he doesn't plan to decide for another month or so, but he's also being pushed hard by both schools. Penn State and Michigan each have one linebacker committed, and the Lions are planning to sign two. If they were to miss out on Buddin, King could end up being the only linebacker in the class, although the sta9 will continue to push for elite prospects like Demeioun Robinson and Terrence Lewis. I expect all three of Penn State's recent additions from Detroit to be messaging Buddin regularly over the coming weeks. "Jamari is a good guy. I've known him for a long time," Kobe King said. "He ac- tually played on my little league team for a year, and then we played basketball to- gether. We went to di9erent high schools, but we've stayed in touch and have seen each other at di9erent camps. We're always competing against each other. But yeah, I talk to Jamari. I'd love for him to join me and Kalen at Penn State. We're de8nitely going to talk to him about it." Defensive back may be an even more interesting position group. With two safeties, one cornerback and a hybrid player in Davis already committed, you can expect Smith and Banks to crank up the heat on their top remaining targets. Players like cornerback Tony Grimes and safety Derrick Davis will be takes no matter when they decide. For those wondering, neither one is expected to do that anytime soon. Junior college prospect De'Jahn Warren could be someone to watch closely, however. Warren has only visited University Park once. On top of that, it remains the only school he's seen. He wants to see other schools before announcing a decision, but it may be hard for him to wait this out when his top option currently, Penn State, has four defensive backs already committed. Philadelphia cornerback Tyreek Chappell, who was previously coached by former Penn State defensive end and current graduate assistant Deion Barnes, also wanted to visit other schools. Could he be someone to watch? On o9ense, it's hard to predict who could be next. We know quarterback Christian Veilleux originally planned to decide in April or May, but with on- campus visits on hold and all of his top schools seemingly willing to wait, he'll likely take his time to think this through. Wide receiver Kaden Prather also re- cently con8rmed that, while he's getting closer, he will likely wait another month or two. Will o9ensive lineman Nolan Rucci stick to his original plan and de- cide before the summer? That's also up in the air, but either way, all of these players appear to be weeks away from deciding, if not months. But maybe the most important thing for fans to keep in mind at the moment is that recruiting is not on hold. In fact, many of these prospects believe it's the exact opposite. With coaches and players forced to stay home, only so much can be done when it comes to the current roster. Because of that, coaches are communi- cating with prospects, whether it be messaging, phone calls or video confer- ences, as much or more than before. It's been so overwhelming that some players are asking coaches not to call on certain days, preferring to instead take a day o9 and reset a:er hearing from a dozen or more coaches in a single day. One thing I've learned is that when players get sick of the process, it o:en leads to sudden decisions. Don't be sur- prised in the weeks to come if we see a few more quick commitments that seem out of the blue. ■ A N A L Y S I S B Y R Y A N S N Y D E R

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