Tag: Jaylen Harvey

Biggest theme of Penn State’s 2024 class: balance

Penn State’s 2024 class offers one of the more balanced recruiting hauls in the country.

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.

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Which Class of 2024 players will enroll early at Penn State?

It looks like a good percentage of Penn State’s Class of 2024 will be on campus in January to get a jump with offseason workouts.

Now that Penn State has officially signed its Class of 2024 on the first day of the early signing period, or at least all of the commitments they had lined up, the page is quickly turning forward. Not to look past the upcoming Peach Bowl against Ole Miss later this month, but winter workouts and spring football will be here before you know it! And it seems a good percentage of Penn State’s Class of 2024 is expected to be on campus and ready to get started working with their new teammates and coaches.

Here are the players in Penn State’s Class of 2024 that are reportedly expected to enroll early in January and get started with the program:

  • DL [autotag]Liam Andrews[/autotag]
  • DB [autotag]Antoine Belgrave-Shorter[/autotag]
  • OL [autotag]Eagan Boyer[/autotag]
  • WR [autotag]Josiah Brown[/autotag]
  • DL [autotag]De’Andre Cook[/autotag]
  • OL [autotag]Cooper Cousins[/autotag]
  • DL [autotag]T.A. Cunningham[/autotag]
  • DL [autotag]Xavier Gilliam[/autotag]
  • QB [autotag]Ethan Grunkemeyer[/autotag]
  • DL [autotag]Jaylen Harvey[/autotag]
  • LB [autotag]Kari Jackson[/autotag]
  • RB [autotag]Quinton Martin[/autotag]
  • DB [autotag]Jon Mitchell[/autotag]
  • TE [autotag]Luke Reynolds[/autotag]
  • OL [autotag]Garrett Sexton[/autotag]
  • DB [autotag]Vaboue Toure[/autotag]

Every other member of Penn State’s Class of 2024 will join the program in the summer.

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Early Signing Day Tracker: Say hello to Penn State’s Class of 2024

The early signing period for college football is officially open as schools around the country are locking in their entire, if not the vast majority, of their recruiting classes for the Class of 2024. Penn State will be among the schools expecting …

The early signing period for college football is officially open as schools around the country are locking in their entire, if not the vast majority, of their recruiting classes for the Class of 2024. Penn State will be among the schools expecting to receive signed National Letters of Intent from their verbal commitments to make things official. There could always be a player or two who hold off until the traditional signing period in February for one reason or another, but Penn State is hoping for a pretty simple and straightforward opening to the early signing period.

Here is a look at each player who committed to Penn State in the Class of 2024 recruiting calendar and an update on which players have signed in the early signing period.

Penn State lands 2024 4-star edge rusher Jaylen Harvey

Penn State starts the week with a four-star addition to the Class of 2024.

Ahead of Penn State’s matchup against Ohio State on Saturday, they got some good news on the recruiting front.

After a long process, the Nittany Lions have finally landed four-star edge rusher Jaylen Harvey in the class of 2024.

He had been a top priority for James Franklin and his staff throughout the entire recruitment period that might have taken longer than some would have liked. Ultimately though, this is a young man who is deciding on his future, not just in athletics, but in academics and how to set himself up for life after football.

Harvey announced his decision on Instagram Live on Monday, bringing an end to his journey that saw him take 27 total visits and 11 to Penn State.

The Potomac, MD native ultimately chose the Nittany Lions over Maryland and USC.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyejp4zM0ft/

Despite the long process, recruiting experts for both 247Sports and On3 kept Penn State as their favorites to land the edge rusher because of the relationships that were built between him, his family and the coaching staff.

“They’ve been recruiting me since I was a freshman. My relationships with all of them are very close. They plan on using me as a rusher and playing me in space,” he told Hayes Fawcett of On3.

The 6’2″ 245 pound prospect is listed as a consensus four-star player in the 2024 class by On3’s industry rankings despite their own ratings classifying him as a three-star.

“They stood out to me because they are LBU. They develop and get you to the league and all the coaches have high expectations on and off the field,” he continued.

Harvey was viewed as one of the final pieces to the puzzle for Penn State in the 2024 class as they will now turn their attention to potentially flipping any players that might not view their situation as favorable following the season.

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Penn State recruiting target sets commitment date

Penn State is in the final three for this defensive recruiting target set for a commitment announcement next week.

Penn State is hoping to start off next week with some positive recruiting news. A key player on Penn State’s radar is set to announce his commitment on Monday, Oct. 16, and Penn State is believed to be in the top three.

[autotag]Jaylen Harvey[/autotag], a four-star edge rusher from Maryland in the Class of 2024, announced on his social media account that he will reveal his commitment on Monday, Oct. 16. Harvey just made a visit to Penn State prior to his announcement about his commitment date.

Penn State is currently the favorite according to the 247Sports crystal ball predictions, including the most recent prediction made in late September by a Maryland sports writer.

247Sports rates Harvey as a three-star prospect, but his composite rating is bumped up to four stars. 247Sports also ranks Harvey as the no. 9 player in the state of Maryland.

We’ll soon find out if Harvey will be joining Penn State’s Class of 2024. It would be a good way to start off what could be a monster week for Penn State with a road game at Ohio State coming up next week.

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USC and Maryland pushing Penn State in recruitment of 4-star OLB Jaylen Harvey

Penn State has been the favorite to get Harvey’s commitment for a while now.

Pass rushers are now a premium position at every level of football. That makes recruiting them a particularly competitive business. One prospect getting plenty of suitors for his services is Quince Orchard (Md.) four-star outside linebacker Jaylen Harvey.

Penn State has been the favorite to get Harvey’s commitment for a while now. However, according to Adam Friedman at Rivals, both USC and Maryland are still in the race and are making it a difficult decision.

“Harvey has wanted to get his commitment out of the way before the season starts, and it looks like we could have a resolution sooner rather than later. Penn State has been the longtime favorite, but Maryland and USC are making this a very difficult decision. The Terps made a strong impression during their official visit in June, while the Trojans rolled out the red carpet for Harvey when he was in L.A. for his official visit. The strong connections he has at Penn State still appear to be pulling most of the weight here, so the Nittany Lions are still the pick.”

In addition to Penn State, USC and Maryland Harvey has offers from 20 other schools around the country.

However, according to On3’s prediction model, the Nittany Lions remain heavy favorites (92.4%) to get Harvey’s commitment. Maryland is next at 2.1%, followed by USC at 1.5%.

Getting Harvey would be another feather in the cap for Penn State’s class of 2024, which currently ranks fifth in the nation.

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Will this be the next four-star defensive lineman to commit to Penn State?

After securing its latest commitments, Penn State now turns its eyes to the looming decision of this four-star lineman from Maryland.

Ever since naming Deion Barnes the defensive line coach for the program, Penn State has been on a bit of a run with defensive line recruiting. Since the announcement confirming Barnes’ new title, Penn State added five commitments for the defensive line after having zero in the Class of 2024. And there may still be at least one more to come.

Penn State had a big weekend just before Big Ten media days with the additions of four-star defensive lineman Liam Andrews out of Massachusettes and four-star defensive lineman T.A. Cunningham out of Miami, Florida. The latest additions bumped Penn State’s already top-10 worthy class up in the national rankings as high as no. 5 in the nation. So, the logical question is whether or not Penn State can add at least one more prize to the haul.

All eyes could be shifting to the recruiting process of Jaylen Harvey from Gaithersburg, Maryland. Harvey pushed back his decision date from July 4 and could be approaching his new decision date any day or week now. Penn State has been considered a strong favorite to secure Harvey’s commitment throughout his recruiting process, but Penn State will have to beat out Maryland, USC, Tennessee, and Florida for the commitment.

Harvey is rated as a four-star recruit on the 247Sports composite player rankings, and he is the 12th-best player in the state of Maryland. Penn State has already received a commitment from one of the top 10 players in Maryland with safety Dejuan Lane. And as previously mentioned, one of Penn State’s defensive lineman commits, Xavier Gilliam, will be transferring to play alongside Harvey this season for his final year of high school football. Could that be beneficial to Penn State’s recruiting efforts? Only time will tell for sure.

The crystal ball board on 247Sports has been relatively quiet on Harvey. Two predictions in Penn State’s favor were cast back in October 2022 and there has been just one new prediction cast since then, in early June of this year.

The On3 recruiting prediction machine is also heavily in favor of Penn State, but again that figure is weighted heavily by predictions made last October. Perhaps it is a promising sign that there has been little movement on the recruiting needle, or perhaps there could be some drastic changes about to unfold.

For now, Penn State will hope to ride the momentum it has been on with defensive line recruiting.

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No. 2 edge prospect in Maryland announces top five schools

Tennessee is one of five schools for 2024 edge prospect Jaylen Harvey.

Four-star edge prospect Jaylen Harvey announced his top five schools on Monday.

Tennessee, Penn State, Maryland, USC and Florida are Harvey’s top five schools. He is scheduled to announce his commitment on July 4.

The 6-foot-2, 250-pound edge prospect is from Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Harvey is the No. 353 overall prospect and No. 23 edge prospect in the class of 2024. He ranks as the No. 1 edge prospect and No. 10 player in Maryland, according to On3 industry rankings.

Harvey was named the Montgomery County 4A Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team all-state honors last season. He finished the season with 35 tackles, 15 tackles for a loss, five sacks and two forced fumbles.

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Penn State in Top 5 of four-star edge rusher

Penn State sits in the top five for four-star edge rusher in 2024

Penn State continues to recruit the defensive side of the ball hard. They have locked up a formidable group of secondary prospects in their 2024 class and are now looking to build up their defensive line.

Currently, there is only one defensive lineman committed to the Nittany Lions after [autotag]Xavier Gilliam[/autotag] gave his verbal commitment in early June.

On Monday, one of Penn State’s top defensive line prospects cut his list of schools down to five.

Four-star edge rusher [autotag]Jaylen Harvey[/autotag] has been heavily recruited by Penn State since April 2022 when they offered him a scholarship. Harvey is a 6’2″ 250 pound prospect from Maryland who has visited Penn State more than any other school in the country.

The five schools on his list are Penn State, USC, Tennessee, Florida and Maryland.

Harvey is coming off an official visit to USC this past weekend and is scheduled to take an official visit to Maryland on June 23rd.

Harvey took his first official visit to Penn State on June 2nd and followed that up with an official visit to Florida on June 9th. The only school on his top five list he’s yet to lock in an official visit is with Tennessee.

On3’s industry rankings has him rated as a four-star prospect and sits as the 10th best player in Maryland and the number 23 overall edge rusher in the class of 2024.

Penn State are the massive favorites to land their edge rushing target according to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine with a 92.4% chance. Maryland is second with a 2.1% chance and USC third with 1.5%.

Harvey is expected to announce his commitment on July 4th.

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Four-star EDGE sets commitment date following official visit to Florida

Florida’s recruiting staff is working hard on four-star edge rusher Jaylen Harvey, and his recent official visit to the Swamp has the Gators on the rise.

Following a three-day official visit to the University of Florida, Quince Orchard (Potomac, Maryland) edge rusher [autotag]Jaylen Harvey[/autotag] has set a commitment date of July 4. He sent out a tweet at the end of his trip to make the date official.

Harvey described the trip as a “great experience” for him and his family, according to Gators Online. The coaching staff went into great detail about the role they see him filling at Florida, which is that of a versatile JACK linebacker. Harvey says he likes the freedom the position gives him and Florida’s coaching staff was impressive overall this weekend.

“Very, very high. I can see myself playing there (at Florida),” Harvey said. “It’s just the players; they keep it real. The coaches are also honest and they aren’t afraid to play freshmen.”

With his commitment less than three weeks away, Harvey’s options appear to be narrowed down to his official visits from this month. Before the Florida trip, he stopped by Penn State, and there are plans to be at Maryland and USC over the next two weeks.

The On3 recruiting prediction machine favors the Nittany Lions right now with a whopping 91.6%, but a deep dive shows that two predictions with a confidence grade of 60 from October are carrying most of the weight there.

Harvey is a four-star recruit, according to the On3 industry ranking, which uses a weighted average of all four major recruiting services. He comes in at No. 351 nationally and No. 23 among edge rushers in the 2024 class.

Rivals.com is the highest on him, ranking him at No. 215 overall and No. 11 among those playing his position.

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