This time on the calendar suggested there would be a lot of decisions coming for top players across the country about where they’re going to play college football, and Penn State was hoping they would land many of their top targets.
A lot of eyes were on two coaches in particular as [autotag]Deion Barnes[/autotag] and [autotag]Marques Hagans[/autotag] really had their first full recruiting cycle this offseason.
For a while, both had only landed one commit when [autotag]Lyrick Samuel[/autotag] jumped on board in the receiver room, however, since then, Barnes has been on an incredible run that continues to get better.
Not only did he get his first one in Cortez Harris, but he followed that up with a huge victory to land Max Granville, poaching him from the state of Texas to beat out Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
As if that wasn’t good enough, the Nittany Lions have landed another four-star edge rusher in [autotag]Jayden Woods[/autotag].
Excited to work!! @DBarnes_18 @tbrown_19 @coachjfranklin https://t.co/ByPhm26HtS
— Jayden Woods (@Atm_Jayden) June 26, 2024
The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder is a consensus four-star in the class of 2025 and is ranked 23rd at his position and 201st overall by On3’s Industry Ranking.
This was another recruitment that was seen as something potentially hard to get home as Woods is a Kansas native and was heavily being pursued by Kansas State and Tennessee.
They were able to get him on campus twice in 2024, including an official visit that took place on the weekend of June 7.
The edge rusher talked about developing a good relationship with Barnes and the interesting connection his family has with [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag], as he recruited Woods’s father to Kansas State back when Franklin was coaching there.
He is now the 19th commit for Penn State in the class of 2025 as they continue to put together a group that could finish towards the top of national rankings with their continued pursuit of other top targets on their board.