Blue White Illustrated

November 2020

Penn State Sports Magazine

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These 2022 offensive prospects will bear watching P enn State has had an up-and-down recruiting year, to say the least. The Class of 2021 is no doubt talented, but considerable attention has been paid to the players who passed up the Nittany Lions for other schools. James Franklin himself admitted that the class wasn't "up to the standard" that fans have come to expect in recent years. On the 3ip side, Penn State has also seen its Class of 2022 get o4 to the kind of start that quite frankly is hard to be- lieve given that players haven't been able to visit campus for nine months now. With six players already committed, in- cluding four prospects in the Rivals250, the class has given fans a reason to feel good about the program's perception. And yet, the true test of any class is not how it looks in the early stages of the recruiting cycle, but how it looks at the end. We won't know until December 2021 how this class stacks up, but there will be clues and hints along the way. To get a better feel for how the sta4 will reach its goals, I complied a list of eight 2022 prospects who will merit close attention in the months ahead. Landing these players will go a long way toward determining just how good Penn State's Class of 2022 turns out to be. With two tight ends and a quarterback already committed, it's clear that run- ning back, wide receiver and o4ensive tackle are the key positions to focus on. TYLER BOOKER OT, 6-5, 315 New Haven, Conn. IMG Academy (Fla.) Booker began building a relationship with Phil Trautwein last summer, when the 2rst- year Penn State o4ensive line coach was still at Boston College. They stayed in contact a5er Trautwein headed to PSU in January, and their relationship only grew stronger when the Nittany Lions o4ered in March. He's now among the top overall o4ensive line prospects on the sta4's recruiting board. A native of New Haven, Conn., Booker was actually scheduled to visit Penn State for the 2rst time the same week that the NCAA sus- pended all on-campus recruiting. Be- cause of that, he still hasn't seen University Park and the surrounding area, although he has done multiple Zoom calls to get a better feel for the people in the program. It will be hard for him to visit Penn State until he comes home from IMG Academy in Florida, so a visit may not happen until next sum- mer. But make no mistake, the Nittany Lions are in a good spot here. He's ad- mitted that PSU is recruiting him harder than any other school and has also con- sistently said that Penn State will be one A N A L Y S I S B Y R Y A N S N Y D E R GETTING UP TO SPEED A standout at IMG Academy in Florida, Booker has Penn State high on his list. Photo courtesy of Rivals.com

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