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James Franklin explains Penn State recruiting priorities a month before early signing day

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•11/10/21•

GregPickel

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Penn State coach James Franklin revealed his program's recruiting priorities with the early signing day on the horizon. Ryan Snyder/BWI

Penn State has a mostly full Class of 2022 and the initial bricks have been laid for the foundation of its 2023 class.

What is the Nittany Lions’ priority in the recruiting world, then, with about a month to go before the early National Signing Day for this cycle in addition to a pair of home games remaining to host prospects at?

“I’d say the priority for us is keeping the ’22 class intact with the guys that are doing what they need to do to come to Penn State,” head coach James Franklin said on Wednesday.

“We obviously have some early enrollees, a large number of early enrollees, as well.”

Class of 2022 rundown

Penn State has 25 high school/junior college players committed as of Tuesday afternoon. It also has a pledge from Harvard lineman Spencer Rolland, who will be transferring into the Nittany Lions program ahead of the 2022 season.

It’s a big class already, and that means there is little room left for any other additions. One or two shouldn’t be completely ruled out, however. Maryland linebacker Jaishawn Barham and Ohio lineman Aamil Wagner are two names to keep an eye on.

“I think there could be a little bit of movement in the ’22 class, but we also want to have a little bit of flexibility for some possible transfers as well,” Franklin said.

At this point, it’s truly a numbers game. Penn State would like to add as much talent as possible, of course. But, it also needs to keep space available to add players from the transfer portal this offseason while still staying under the 85-man scholarship cap.

Which Penn State commits are enrolling early?

Here’s the rundown, courtesy of BWI recruiting insider Ryan Snyder:

QB Drew Allar 

QB Beau Pribula

RB Kaytron Allen

RB Nick Singleton

WR Kadan Saunders

WR Omari Evans

TE Jerry Cross

OT Drew Shelton

DL Zane Durant

OL JB Nelson

CB Cam Miller

For comparison’s sake, Penn State had 11 early enrollees in both the Classes of 2019 and 2020 but just seven in the last cycle.

Penn State will work ahead, as well

Recruiting never stops, despite its calendar featuring both ‘quiet’ and ‘dead’ periods. There is always work to be done, and so while Penn State might like where it stands for the most part with the group that will soon sign, there is still plenty to be accomplished.

“Our focus is keeping the ’22 class intact, and those guys have a really strong relationship, not only with each other, but also with our staff and their parents,” Franklin said. “And then, obviously, doing a great job in the ’23 class, and we got a pretty good start on that already and we’re going to need to continue building this.

“I think that’s obviously a major focus for us is continuing to recruit at a high level. We’ve had some really good recruiting classes, but we need to be able to stack them up, one after another. That’ll be a big focus. We got to be able to balance finishing the season the right way and recruiting at the same time.”

According to the On3 team rankings, Penn State is No. 8 in the Class of 2022 and No. 5 in the Class of 2023.

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