Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541276
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 5 5 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M and defensive tackle Isaac Chukwurah. Harley is enrolled at Gonzaga Col- lege High in Washington, D.C., which doesn't allow students to leave early. Petersohn plans to play basketball this winter and run track in the spring, while Chukwurah has been planning all along to enroll in the summer. Do 2026 prospects have to sign in December to enroll ear ly? No. As long as a prospective student- athlete has been accepted into the school, that player can simply sign their term sheet when they arrive on campus. That's always been the case with early enrollees, even before the FBS launched its early signing period in 2017. For example, if you follow recruiting closely, you may remember Penn State's pursuit last year of 2025 quarterback Bryce Baker after North Carolina made a coaching change. The four-star recruit took an official visit to Happy Valley dur- ing the final week of the regular season and then decided to delay his decision. The Tar Heels finalized a contract with Bill Belichick on Dec. 11, and after a few days of discussions, Baker officially ended his recruitment on Dec. 14. Baker then enrolled at North Carolina in January, signing his term sheet agree- ment with the school and/or its NIL collective when he arrived on campus. The three Penn State commits who aren't planning to enroll early can still take their time with the decision and just sign their term sheet when the win- dow opens again on Feb. 4, 2026, aka National Signing Day. There's a December dead period now? Yes. On Oct. 28, the NCAA in- stituted a dead period for the entire month. No on-campus visits will be allowed, though electronic commu- nication (phone, text, email, etc.) be- tween coaches and prospects is still permitted. The NCAA had originally taken a more moderate position, allowing re- cruits to visit campus during a 14-day period from Dec. 8-21. That would have been very helpful to Penn State this year. It would have made it pos- sible for some of the Nittany Lions' current commits to meet the program's leadership team in person, assuming the new staff has been hired by then. Under the rule change, however, that will no longer be the case. When does Penn State's spring semester start? The first day of classes for the 2026 spring semester is Jan. 12, and the late add/drop period runs for an additional week. That means prospects have until Jan. 19 to enroll at Penn State. It's hard to imagine many of Penn State's prospective January enrollees waiting that long. Most should have a good idea what their options are well before Jan. 19. There could be some high school re- cruits who remain unsigned by that point, but for the most part, Penn State's spring semester enrollment deadlines will be much more relevant to players in the transfer portal. Something else to keep in mind … While Penn State's recruits can take their time, that doesn't mean they'll be faced with an easy decision come early December. That's especially true for some of the more coveted players in the 2026 class. For example, Littlejohn and his fam- ily would like to see what happens with would-be position coach Dan Connor before potentially making a move else- where. At the same time, the three-star prospect from Charlotte, N.C., has be- gun receiving genuine interest from elite schools like Georgia, Ohio State and Or- egon. Not only are those great programs, they also have deep pockets. Coaches will be aggressive down the stretch, po- tentially letting players know that deals can't be guaranteed the longer they wait. Prospects who still have good op- tions elsewhere, let alone a handful of great options like Littlejohn, may not want to take that risk. It's a certainty that many agents will be advising players to accept these offers rather than waiting for Penn State's coaching situation to be resolved. ■ Three-star linebacker Elijah Littlejohn is hoping to see current Penn State linebackers coach Dan Connor retained. With the Lions in the midst of a coaching transition, Littlejohn is being pursued by Georgia, Oregon, Ohio State and others. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER