Penn State officially inked 22 new members to its Class of 2023 with the start of the early signing period on Wednesday. The early signing period closes after Friday so there could still be more to come for Penn State in an official capacity before the holiday weekend, but [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] can now focus on plugging the last holes on the roster that need to be plugged between now and the traditional national signing day in February. On Wednesday, Franklin outlined what is next on the agenda for the Nittany Lions from a recruiting perspective.
“If you look on the offensive side of the ball, we’d like to get another offensive lineman if we could, specifically an offensive tackle, or a guy that’s like the guys that we signed in this class that have position flexibility,” Franklin mentioned. Penn State signed a pair of offensive linemen studs with J’ven Williams and Alex Birchmeier to set a tone for this recruiting class in the trenches. But as Penn State has seen the last few years, you can never have a lack of depth on the offensive line later in the year.
“I’d like to see us get another offensive lineman and then wide receiver,” Franklin said. “That’s a position where I could see us signing a couple more guys at that position just to make sure that we have the competition at that position on a similar scale that we do at tight end and running back. I think that’s going to be important for us moving forward.”
Penn State will be going into 2023 with the loss of Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley, two of the team’s top receiving targets in 2022. Washington declared for the NFL with a year of eligibility remaining and Tinsley is exhausting his eligibility as a graduate.
Penn State added one four-star wide receiver in its Class of 2023 haul with Carmelo Taylor out of Virginia. The Class of 2022 added some young players with good potential as well with Kaden Saunders, Anthony Ivey, Omari Evans, and Tyler Johnson.
The good news for Penn State is there are still some players out there to be signed or added through the transfer portal that can help Franklin address these two needs. And given Franklin’s comments, you can fully expect Penn State will be active in those areas moving forward.
“Offensive tackles that are still out there, wide receivers that are still out there, we’ll be in pursuit,” Franklin said.
Franklin is also keeping an eye out for more bodies on the defensive side of the ball as well, specifically on the defensive line. Franklin said he would like to add another defensive tackle or defensive end to pad the depth a bit more on the line. But Franklin is also focused on the defensive back position as well as Conrad Hussey has not signed with a school yet despite being committed to Penn State. Hussey was reportedly set to announce his final college decision at an event on Wednesday evening but that decision remains in limbo as Miami and Florida State have appeared to enter the conversation.
“Depending on how this thing plays out in the back end at defensive back, we could be in the need for one or two more defensive backs,” Franklin said.
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