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Penn State jumps in updated On3 Consensus Rankings

nate-mug-10.12.14by:Nate Bauer•01/27/23•

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Since the first signing day in December, Penn State has won a Rose Bowl and seen a jump in the On3 Consensus Team Rankings. (Ryan Snyder/BWI)

Penn State head coach James Franklin glowed over the Nittany Lions’ Class of 2023 upon its signing on Dec. 21. He’d been pleased by the quality of its 22 commitments, touting balance on both sides of the ball, a wave of early enrollees, and doing well in Pennsylvania.

“When you talk about this class, we’re very, very happy with the class,” Franklin said in December. “There’s a lot of balance in the class, offense, and defense, as well as early enrollees. We have 11 guys that are scheduled right now to be early enrollees.

“The class is about split from offense to defense, from little guys to big guys. I think we got a really good mix there.”

The class hasn’t added any prospects in the time since. But, that hasn’t stopped it from moving, anyway, in the recruiting industry’s eyes.

In this week’s updated On3 Consensus Football Team Recruiting Rankings for the Class of 2023, the Nittany Lions’ class now stands at No. 13 nationally. The move represents a jump of one spot from its early signing period standing of 14th.

Penn State football’s rankings bump

What led to Penn State’s rankings bump? Two reasons stand out.

At the time, Penn State was edged out by a fraction of a point by Southern Cal’s class. As the On3 Consensus baseline changed, rating a 20-man class as the national standard for class size, a reshuffling occurred. 

That number has again changed, now to 21, actually downgrading slightly its signing day number. Penn State’s overall team score is now 91.409, down from 91.583. But, its per-recruit average of 90.32, then good for 12th nationally, up to 90.54.

The Nittany Lions can thank the final re-evaluations and re-rankings across the recruiting services for that. Released Thursday, both 247Sports and Rivals updated their lists, the Top247 and Rivals250, respectfully. Accordingly, at 247Sports, the Nittany Lions are 14th while Rivals has Penn State at 16th in its team rankings.

By the numbers, Penn State’s ratings haven’t changed, boasting 14 four-star prospects and eight three-stars in the On3 Consensus rankings. Among those players, Jven Williams, Alex Birchmeier, and Tony Rojas remain in the top 100, with King Mack now cracking the threshold to join the group, checking in at No. 93. 

Additionally, what had been a class featuring 10 players ranked in the top 300 nationally is now up to 11.

That’s a wrap?

On the early signing day, Franklin indicated that, whether via traditional recruiting or the transfer portal, Penn State was going to remain active in its pursuit of a few specific outstanding needs on the roster.

“I’d like to see us get another offensive lineman and then wide receiver,” Franklin said. “Offensive tackles that are still out there, wide receivers that are still out there, we’ll be in pursuit.

“On the defensive side of the ball, we’d like to get a defensive tackle, possibly another defensive end just from a numbers perspective. Again, depending on how this thing plays out in the back end at defensive back, we could be in the need for one or two more defensive backs.”

While Penn State’s Class of 2023 hasn’t changed since then, the Nittany Lions have added five players through the transfer portal. Specialists Riley Thompson and Alex Felkins have boosted Stacey Collins’ operations on special teams. Penn State’s defensive backfield needs have been addressed with the addition of North Carolina graduate transfer Storm Duck. And, crucially, receivers Malik McNeil and Dante Cephas have joined the fold, McNeil already enrolled and Cephas is set to join after wrapping his academic load at Kent State this spring.

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