With the first and busiest day of the college football early signing period behind us, we can confirm that Penn State signed all 25 of its Class of 2024 commits earlier today. It was a “drama-free” signing day according to [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] who spoke after all the commits had signed. The class is now locked in for next year so let’s break it down.
Penn State returns a boatload of starting-caliber players from last season but will lose several starters to the NFL with more expected to announce in the coming month. Penn State has never been a heavy transfer portal school and relies mainly on keeping its returning players intact while reloading with a strong freshman class.
This years’ class is ranked 14th in the country by 247Sports Composite and 16th by On3. With 12 offensive commits and 13 defensive commits this year’s group is evenly balanced eluding to the fact that Franklin and his staff want to add quality depth around the board and fill in any neccessary holes from departing players.
From a positon standpoint is was more of the same type of balance across the board:
- 7 skill players: QB [autotag]Ethan Grunkemeyer[/autotag], running backs [autotag]Quintin Martin[/autotag] and [autotag]Corey Smith[/autotag], wide recievers [autotag]Josiah Brown[/autotag], [autotag]Tyseer Denmark[/autotag], and [autotag]Peter Gonzalez[/autotag], tight end [autotag]Luke Reynolds[/autotag]
- 5 offensive lineman: [autotag]Eagan Boyer[/autotag], [autotag]Caleb Brewer[/autotag], [autotag]Cooper Cousins[/autotag], [autotag]Donovan Harbour[/autotag], [autotag]Garrett Sexton[/autotag]
- 6 defensive lineman: [autotag]Liam Andrews[/autotag], [autotag]DeAndre Cook[/autotag], [autotag]T.A. Cunningham[/autotag], [autotag]Xavier Gilliam[/autotag], [autotag]Jaylen Harvey[/autotag], and [autotag]Mylachi Williams[/autotag]
- 5 secondary players: cornerbacks Antoine Belgrave-Shorter, Kenneth Woseley, Jon Mitchell, and safties Dejuan Lane, and Vaboue Toure
- 2 linebackers: Kari Jackson and Anthony Specca
No one position or side of the ball dominated the 2024 recruiting cycle for Penn State, but thats a good thing because it shows that Penn State has talent everywhere. Three wide recievers were added to arguably the worst room in 2023 and a playmaking running back was added to a room featuring two former 5-star recruits. The trenches were reloaded with talent and many of the offensive line commits should challenge for starting spots in their first year.
In the time of the transfer portal and NIL perhaps a early signing day like the one Penn State had today is not exciting, but it does not matter Franklin’s method of “underpromise, overdeliver” method still produces wins. It has in the past. Penn State’s 2024 class is balanced, solid, and most importantly adds talent across the board which is key for sustained success.