Tag: Elijah Melendez

Recruiting is a lot of hard work by the entire coaching staff and athletic department to ensure Penn State is able to reach the level of talent and caliber of athlete that will help them compete at a high level in the Big Ten and nationally.

It was a fantastic Wednesday for the Nittany Lions on Dec. 20 when all 25 of their 2024 commits signed their letters of intent.

But as it’s become ever apparent that recruiting never stops in college football, Penn State has to turn their attention to the next class.

They got some great news when Top-50 linebacker, [autotag]Elijah Melendez[/autotag], included the Nittany Lions in his top eight schools.

Originally, Penn State wasn’t even on his radar until a random coincidence made him and his family take an impromptu visit to campus that made him seriously consider them as an option for his future.

Melendez spoke with Ryan Snyder of On3 about how everything came to be that ended up with the Nittany Lions making his cut (story requires a subscription).

According to the coveted prospect, he saw the Penn State exit sign on his way back from Columbus, OH to New Jersey. where his dad lives. Melendez wanted to stop by the school and texted the coaches before they arrived.

He was then able to tour the campus, facility and entire school while meeting with the coaching staff for about two-and-a-half hours. It was a relationship building moment between both parties after they had previously offered the linebacker a scholarship.

They continued to build this relationship and Melendez was able to get his first taste of Beaver Stadium when he attended the game against Michigan.

This drove the Nittany Lions high up on his list and is now seriously considering Penn State as an option, telling Snyder that Michigan, Ohio State and Miami are the other schools high on his list.

Melendez is a super talented prospect in the class of 2025 and is someone that could become a major priority for this coaching staff.

Penn State has built a reputation of having elite linebackers in college to the point of getting their infamous nickname “Linebacker U.”

The job description of that position has changed from primarily being a run stopping role to doing that as well as being involved in stopping the passing game.

With more explosive offenses joining the Big Ten going forward and once archaic offensive schemes becoming more modern, it’s never been more important for the Nittany Lions to continue to recruit and develop the position at a high level.

That’s why being included in the Top-8 of 2025 four-star linebacker, [autotag]Elijah Melendez[/autotag], was such a huge deal.

The Florida native is 6’2″ 210 pounds and is one of the best players in his state and has wracked up just shy of 40 scholarship offers from some of the best programs across the country.

Melendez cut his list of schools down to eight on Thursday and included Penn State along with Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, USC, Miami and Colorado.

⌛️Time is here, let’s do it‼️‼️ GOD is great pic.twitter.com/Tw1rzqeyeD

— Elijah melendez (@Babyman3J) December 14, 2023

The interesting thing about Melendez as a prospect is that On3 is much higher on him in their evaluations than the other three major recruiting sites.

By their rankings, the linebacker is the No. 48 overall player in the 2025 class and ninth best at his position. But, their industry rankings have him as 119th player in the country and 14th best linebacker.

Still, there’s no doubt that this is a coveted prospect who Penn State would love to add to their 2025 class.

According to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, the Nittany Lions have the third-best and third-worst odds to land Melendez with less than one percent. Miami is the massive favorite to pick up a commitment with a 68.9% chance.

It’s still very early in his recruitment and the RPM isn’t all the way representative of where he’s leaning since there are only four teams listed according to them.

Melendez’s recruitment will certainly be one to monitor.