Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1528325
5 6 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State picked up a flurry of 2026 commitments this past summer, including defensive end Daniel Jennings. A four-star prospect in the On3 In- dustry Ranking, Jennings caught some observers off-guard with the timing of his commitment, but there was nothing surprising about the school he chose. After four visits in a five-month stretch, it was clear that Jennings had serious interest in the Nittany Lions. Jennings made his announcement on July 31, just ahead of his junior season. He's now attending Princeton Senior in West Virginia after spending the previ- ous two years at Graham High in Blue- field, Va. Je n n i n gs i s l i s te d i n t h e I n d u s - try Ranking as the top prospect in West Virginia, as well as the No. 247 player and No. 22 edge rusher nation- ally. To understand how the 6-foot- 2, 225-pound prospect has adjusted to his new surroundings, we caught up with Princeton Senior head coach Keith Taylor. BWI: I want to start out by getting a better feel for Daniel's background, because I've never fully discussed that with him. He's originally from Princ- eton, correct? KEITH TAYLOR: He was at Gra- ham last year, which is in Bluefield, but it's on the Virginia side, not the West Virginia side. Daniel lives in Princeton. He went to Princeton Middle School and played [football] both years. Down here, when you become a freshman, you can pick whatever school you want to go to, and he chose Gra- ham. Graham is always winning their division. They're a double-A school in Virginia. They're winning there pretty much every year. They've won multi- ple state championships, and we were struggling at the time. This is just my second year as the head coach here. I was an assistant previously. He met with our head coach at the time, and we had some older guys who were going to play first. From what I un- derstand, he was going to get a chance to play earlier at Graham, so that's why he ended up going there. But then he turned 16 and was tired of driving 25 minutes to school, so he just decided to come back home. BWI: How did his transition go in the offseason? Daniel has always been kind of quiet with the media. Is he like that around you guys? TAYLOR: He's pretty quiet overall, but he's opened up more with us now. He came in during that lull in the offsea- son when guys are getting tired of lifting weights and want to start getting out- side. But he was a breath of fresh air. He's the hardest worker on our football team. We've been using him all over. Every- COMPETITIVE EDGE Daniel Jennings' high school coach opens up about the 2026 defensive end's formidable skill set RYA N S N Y D E R | RYA N . S N Y D E R @ O N 3 . C O M I N T E R V I E W K E I T H T A Y L O R Jennings was a frequent visitor to Penn State earlier this year. He was on campus four times during a five-month stretch leading up to his commitment in late July. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER