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BWI Live: Penn State a leader in recruiting? | New RPM Pick for Penn State

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby:Thomas Frank Carr•02/15/24•

ThomasFrankCarr

James Frnaklin Penn State Football On3
According to On3's Blair Sanderson, the Penn State Nittany Lions have offered 355 prospects in the current cycle. That's third nationally. (Photo: James Franklin, USA Today Network)

The recruiting world is quiet after a furious January where hundreds of prospects visited campuses nationwide for Junior Days. However, the news never stops in recruiting and even during a “dead period” there’s always something moving behind the scenes. On today’s BWI Live Show, we discuss several top recruits trimming their lists and, including Penn State, the return of a top recruiting assistant, and more.  

Join the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel so you don’t miss any live shows, breaking news, or commitment videos. As always, you can watch our content on replay there or embedded in articles like this one. 

Penn State recruiting news

Before diving into the news from the past week, BWI publisher Sean Fitz discusses Penn State’s winter media day. The Nittany Lions opened up the Beaver Stadium media room on Tuesday for reporters to chat with the second-year players in the program. Fitz shares the interesting nuggets and thoughts he found talking to the Class of 2023. 

However, fans are most interested in Fitz’s most recent prediction in Penn State recruiting. The team may get its first receiver commit in the Class of 2025 with New York’s Lyrick Samuel. Fitz picked Samuel to land with the program and discusses why he made that decision. Check out the show to see highlights from the Bronx native. 

Nittany Lions in the running for several top prospects

So far, Penn State has built a solid recruiting class, mostly from regional prospects. But the team is still pushing to land top talent in the class. One of those names is edge rusher Darren Ikinnagbon. The four-star edge rusher out of New Jersey named the Lions among his top eight programs. What are the chances that defensive line coach Deion Barnes can land the 6-5 rusher? We’ll discuss his recruitment and that of Georiga linebacker Mantrez Walker. 

Finally, we’ll dive into the business of recruiting and how Penn State has changed under new athletic director Pat Kraft. Frank Bodani of the York Daily Record recently reported that Penn State’s recruiting and overall budgets have skyrocketed since Kraft took over. 

That news coincides with the return of recruiting staffer Khalil Ahmad. Ahmad took a job with Syracuse this offseason, only to return this week. Fitz will explain Ahmad’s importance to the program and how Penn State can use his regional ties to land several of the players we’re discussing on today’s show. 

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