Blue White Illustrated

F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G Flowers joins PSU's Class of 2022 Steel-High athlete commits Jan. 1; Lions continue to pursue 2021 prospects | P enn State added another coveted player to its Class of 2022 when Pennsylvania native and four-star prospect Mehki Flowers ended his re- cruitment on New Year's Day. A resident of Steelton, Flowers earned an o8er from James Franklin and his sta8 in June 2019 following a standout per- formance during PSU's Lion Strong seven-on-seven tournament. Overall, more than 20 schools extended o8ers, al- though the Nittany Lions were consid- ered to be heavy favorites throughout his recruitment. Listed at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, Flowers could play either wide re- ceiver or safety at the next level. He said if he had to choose, he would lean to- ward playing wide receiver in college. Openly, he'd love to play both. "I grew up playing both sides of the ball, so to me, it comes naturally," Flowers said. "Looking at their sit- uation, both [position groups] play fast, and that's what I love to do, so I just feel like I'll be a perfect 7t." He went on to add, "If I had to pick, it would probably be wide receiver, but I enjoy both. James Franklin has been telling me that I'll be able to do that there, and that's big." Flowers announced his top 10 schools just a few days before he committed. Ari- zona State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Ne- braska, Virginia Tech and West Virginia were a few of the more notable schools that the Nittany Lions beat out. Former Penn State tight end Adam Breneman, who was recently promoted to tight ends coach at Arizona State, gave Flowers something to seriously consider. Virginia Tech was also high on his list. "It was pretty close. I would say that Arizona State was big. I really liked get- ting to know everyone there," Flowers said. "They were second for me, but also Virginia Tech. Those were de7nitely two of the other top schools for me." Due to the pandemic and the subse- quent dead period that the NCAA en- acted, Flowers was only able to visit Connecticut, Rutgers and Virginia Tech, in addition to multiple visits to Penn State. But in the end, he elected not to wait for the dead period to end. "The 7rst reason [Penn State was the best 7t], anyone can probably guess, [was] because home is where the heart is," Flowers said. "Staying home means a lot to me. I like having family be able to come out whenever. The second reason is the coaches. They just made me feel special, made me feel at home when I 7rst stepped onto campus." NEWEST LION Flowers gave Arizona State and Virginia Tech strong consideration before an- nouncing on Jan. 1 that he had chosen Penn State. Photo by Ryan Snyder

• Cover