As the Penn State football program is preparing for its upcoming season, the basketball team is doing the same under new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag].
With the roster filled out for the 2023-24 season, Rhoades and his staff are able to shift their focus to recruiting future players to Penn State. He’s known as a great recruiter and will try to get the highest level of athletes to State College that the basketball program has ever seen.
They were able to secure their first official visit of the 2024 class with rising three-star recruit [autotag]David Punch[/autotag].
Punch is a 6’7″ 190-pound forward from Texas.
He’s had a great summer on the Nike EYBL Circuit with his AAU team Drive Nation. He averaged 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds on the circuit, causing him to get tons of offers from Division 1 schools across the nation.
According to Punch, Penn State, Xavier, TCU, NC State, VCU and Virginia Tech are recruiting him the hardest.
My offers and interest @cade_brimmer pic.twitter.com/2w2ixYuks1
— DavidPunch🌟 (@DavidPunch17) July 21, 2023
He recently set dates to visit multiple schools in the months of September and October.
Penn State is first on his official visit list as he heads to State College for the weekend of September 9. He’ll follow that up by visiting TCU, Virginia Tech, and Xavier in that order.
According to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, instate school TCU holds the edge in his recruitment right now with a 30.8% chance. Penn State is fourth on the list with a 19.2% chance.
It’s still early in the recruitment process as Punch should continue to rise in the national rankings heading into his senior year of high school basketball.
He spoke with Jamie Shaw of On3 about Penn State saying, “All of the coaches there have a good relationship with me. They tell me they like how hard I play and my finishing ability and passing ability. When they were at VCU, they liked to get out and run and play above the rim; that’s a big part of my game.”
This is a good momentum builder for Rhoades who is already competing with high level basketball schools for a rising recruit.
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