There are just two weeks until early signing day for class of 2025 prospects, and Penn State is pushing hard to get their current commits officially locked up while also focusing their attention on their top flip targets.
This has been a strange cycle for the Nittany Lions.
Not only have they struggled to land in-state prospects at a rate that hasn’t been seen under [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag], but multiple targets they expected to land have spurned them at the last minute for surprise programs across the country.
That’s the new reality of this NIL era, and will be something Penn State will have to adjust to going forward.
But, Franklin and his staff have done good job staying connecting with recruits who might have picked another schools early on in the process, allowing them to be considered as decision day looms.
Someone at the top of their target board is [autotag]Brandon Finney[/autotag].
The five-star cornerback, as ranked by 247Sports, was one of those prospects who surprisingly committed to another school when Penn State was thought to be the leader in his process. For Finney, that program was Oregon, an NIL-rich school who has become a monster on the recruiting trail.
However, the Nittany Lions have maintained close contact with him, relying on the pipeline that is McDonogh to try and convince him to flip.
Will that happen, though?
Momentum has started to build that suggests Finney could be thinking about changing his pledge, and even though he’s still committed to Oregon, there are starting to be some cracks in that foundation.
With McDonogh’s season now over, Brian Dohn of 247Sports is reporting that the talented cornerback is now focusing on his recruitment again with Oregon, Penn State and Michigan all pushing to add him to their class. What’s interesting is that he could even take his decision past the early signing date and wait until February 2025 to make things official (subscription required).
That could be an advantage for Penn State.
With their second road game in a row this weekend against Minnesota, their last chance to host recruits is the final home game of the season against Maryland that comes on a holiday weekend and is right before Early Signing Day.
If Finney wants to string out his recruitment now that his high school season is over, that could allow the Nittany Lions to make more of a pitch to ultimately land him.