Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1454229
M A R C H 2 0 2 2 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M no doubt about that," he said. "But there's competition at every position. Obviously, it's more challenging — at any position — to unseat a returning starter who's been doing it for a couple of years. "You rebuild your team every single year, and there will be competition at ev- ery single position, including the quar- terback position." Defensive Standouts There's help on the way on defense, too. Dennis-Sutton, a dominant player at the McDonogh (Md.) School, is the biggest name, but the Lions also landed a potential early-impact linebacker in four-star Philadelphia prospect Abdul Carter, and they nabbed five quality de- fensive backs in Mills, Cristian Driver, Mehki Flowers, Cam Miller and Kevin Winston Jr. Driver, Flowers, Miller and Winston all received four-star ratings in the On3 Consensus, while Mills, a three-star prospect, is following in the footsteps of previous Lackawanna College-turned- PSU safeties Jaquan Brisker and Ji'Ayir Brown. Back in December, even before Penn State had put the finishing touches on its class, Franklin said he was thrilled with the way things had worked out. Coaches always say that, of course, but they don't always assemble classes that land squarely in the national top 10 or that come together as smoothly as this one did. "A lot of hard work, a lot of hours went into this class, a lot of building signifi- cant relationships with the recruits as well as their parents and high school coaches," Franklin said. "For 12 years [at Vanderbilt and Penn State], we've had, for the most part, very little drama on signing day. With the relationships that we have devel- oped and the process we have, it's been pretty smooth from that perspective. I'm pleased with that." With any luck, the class that Franklin's process yielded this year will help Penn State make some noise of an entirely dif- ferent kind in the years to come. ■ P E N N S T A T E S I G N E E S • T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 2 2 NAME POS HT WT RATING HOME SCHOOL Drew Allar QB 6-5 225 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Medina, Ohio Medina Kaytron Allen RB 5-11 225 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Norfolk, Va. IMG Academy (Fla.) Kaleb Artis DT 6-4 310 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Westbury, N.Y. St. Francis Prep Alex Bacchetta K 6-2 205 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Atlanta, Ga. Westminster School Abdul Carter LB 6-3 235 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Philadelphia, Pa. La Salle College High Jerry Cross TE 6-6 255 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Milwaukee, Wis. Rufus King Dani Dennis-Sutton DE 6-5 255 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Millsboro, Del. McDonogh School (Md.) Cristian Driver S 5-11 185 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Flower Mound, Texas Liberty Christian Zane Durant DT 6-1 260 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Lake Nona, Fla. Lake Nona Omari Evans WR 6-0 170 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Killeen, Texas Shoemaker Mehki Flowers S 6-0 185 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Harrisburg, Pa. Central Dauphin East Vega Ioane OL 6-4 330 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Graham, Wash. Graham-Kapowsin Anthony Ivey WR 5-11 180 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Lancaster, Pa. Manheim Township Tyler Johnson WR 6-0 175 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Martinsville, Va. Magna Vista Maleek McNeil OT 6-7 355 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. Walter Panas Cam Miller CB 6-0 175 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Yulee, Fla. Trinity Christian Academy Tyrece Mills S 6-1 195 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Philadelphia, Pa. Lackawanna College JB Nelson OL 6-5 300 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Pittsburgh, Pa. Lackawanna College Beau Pribula QB 6-2 205 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ York, Pa. Central York Kaden Saunders WR 5-10 170 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Columbus, Ohio Westerville South Drew Shelton OT 6-5 275 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Downingtown, Pa. Downingtown West Nick Singleton RB 6-0 215 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Shillington, Pa. Governor Mifflin Ken Talley DE 6-2 238 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Philadelphia, Pa. Northeast KJ Winston S 6-2 190 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Columbia, Md. DeMatha Catholic Keon Wylie LB 6-2 200 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Philadelphia, Pa. Imhotep Charter