Jax Forrest recruiting update: Penn State makes final four; when will the top 2026 wrestler decide?
Update: Forrest has made his decision.
Original story:
Penn State is a finalist for the second Johnstown, Pa., Bishop McCort Class of 2026 standout who is ready to end his recruitment this week. On Tuesday night, the nation’s No. 1 junior, Bo Bassett, picked Iowa over the Lions, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma State. Now, teammate Jax Forrest will pick between Penn State, Iowa, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State on Thursday. FloWrestling first reported the news.
Forrest, the nation’s No. 2 Class of 2026 recruit and No. 5 pound-for-pound high school wrestler in the country according to MatScouts, will announce his choice on FloWrestling Radio Live.
“Just want to let you know I’m coming to that decision time,” Forrest said in a video posted by Flo before revealing his final four. “And I will be committing Thursday.”
The pick from Forrest, who is MatScout’s top-ranked wrestler at 132 pounds, is expected to be revealed shortly after Thursday’s ‘FRL’ starts at 11 a.m. ET. Wednesday’s update was the junior’s first since revealing his top 10 back in September. At that point in time, Penn State, Lehigh, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State were all still in play. Now, just four remain, and only one will land one of the nation’s most decorated prep prospects. He figures to compete in the middle weights at the next level, likely starting his college career at 141 pounds before potentially working his way up the weight classes from there.
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Assessing the Penn State Class of 2026 entering Thursday
Penn State currently has just one verbal commitment in the Class of 2026. It comes from a teammate of Bassett’s and Forrest’s at Bishop McCort. Sam Herring, who is No. 20 on MatScout’s Class of 2026 big board, picked the Lions back in November. Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team is currently No. 16 in the team recruiting rankings for the next cycle at Flo. It, Ohio State, and Rutgers are the only schools in the top 20 despite currently having just one pledge. Sanderson talked about his program’s approach to recruiting back on Monday.
“I think we like where we’re at,” Sanderson said. “We love the kids we have in the program and the kids we have coming into the program. I think, obviously, our greatest recruiting tool is just, we’re going to help you get to the top of the mountain, and whatever that means to you. You’re going to reach your highest levels. And, to us, obviously, it’s about kind of helping you and comparing you with a certain lifestyle, mentality, and approach that’s going to benefit you for the rest of your life.
“I mean, that’s what we want. We want create kids that go out there and make a difference in the world, they do what they want to do,whatever that might be. It might be the sport of wrestling, it might be outside of the sport of wrestling, but that’s what we’ve been blessed to be able to do. Our greatest recruiting pitch is just, you can see what we’re doing. It’s now what we’re going to do. This is what we are doing. That makes it a lot easier.”
