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Will Penn State land Chimdy Onoh today? Previewing the four-star lineman's decision

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•02/01/23•

GregPickel

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Chimdy Onoh. (Photo courtesy of Chimdy Onoh via Twitter and Old Dominion football)

Penn State football aims to land one final high school prospect in the Class of 2023. It could do so if Chimdy Onoh picks it today.

The four-star offensive lineman from Dundalk, Md., will announce his college choice this afternoon in his high school’s auditorium. A 6-foot-5, 270-pound prospect, his profile has soared since the start of December. Now, he is ready to make a decision.

Where will he go? We break it all down ahead of his announcement below.

Where does Penn State stand now?

The Nittany Lions enter the day with 22 Class of 2023 high school commitments. Three of them are offensive linemen. Jven Williams, who carries a five-star rating from On3 and a four-star rating in the On3 Consensus as the No. 1 interior lineman and No. 43 player overall, is already on campus. So, too, are Virginia On3 Consensus four-star Alex Birchmeier and Virginia On3 Consensus three-star but On3 four-star Anthony Donkoh.

“We probably are going to leave Donkoh at guard and let him kind of stay there,” head coach James Franklin said in December.

“I think Birch could play center, guard or tackle based on where our roster is right now. I’m going to sit down and have conversations with them to make sure they’re okay with this, but I’d love to be able to start Birchmeier and J’ven at tackle to see if they can do it. Tackles are the hardest guys to find.”

With that said, Penn State wanted another lineman in this cycle if possible. And, Onoh quickly became the clear target ahead of a January official visit.

“If you look on the offensive side of the ball, we’d like to get another offensive lineman if we could, specifically an offensive tackle, or a guy that’s like the guys that we signed in this class that have position flexibility,” Franklin said.

Who are the contenders?

Four schools are in the running to land Onoh on the second national signing day. Formerly an Old Dominion commitment, he re-opened his recruitment as interest poured in from Power Five programs late in 2022.

Rutgers hosted the senior for an official visit in December. He passed on a chance to sign with the Scarlet Knights, though, and officially visited Penn State, Ole Miss, and Michigan State in January.

Those four schools — the Nittany Lions, Scarlet Knights, Rebels, and Spartans — are his finalists.

Onoh is set to make his announcement at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday. BWI will have live coverage of the announcement ceremony.

What has he said about Penn State?

Onoh caught up with BWI’s Ryan Snyder following his official visit to Penn State.

“One main thing that stood out was that they really value their athletes after college,” he said. “They really emphasized the points of what they can do for me after college. They showed me a lot of stuff that I want to do and study, stuff that I’m interested in so that I can be ready for life after football. That really stood out for me.”

“My mom, she really liked how much they valued me becoming something good and really getting something out of my college experience. She really liked how much Penn State valued that. She also liked all the support, from the coaches to the teammates to the personnel. My mom feels comfortable that I’ll be in good hands if I go there.”

Who is the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine favorite?

Powered by predictions from BWI recruiting insider Sean Fitz and On3 director of recruiting Chad Simmons, Penn State has a commanding lead to land Onoh’s signature.

Final word

Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein put in a tremendous amount of work over the last few months to ensure the Lions secured favoritism in this recruitment.

Stay tuned to Blue-White Illustrated for live coverages and updates throughout the day.

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