2017 DE Barber chooses Penn State

Three-star defensive end Damion Barber of Harrisburg (Pa.) High School has verbally committed to Penn State.

Barber, who measures in at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, chose the Nittany Lions over scholarship offers from Iowa State, UMass, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Temple and Virginia Tech. However, he was mainly focused on Penn State and Rutgers, who he visited just last week, leading up to his commitment. Barber said that now was the right time because his mother was finally able to see the school for herself.

"I've been there a lot, so I knew what I wanted, but my mom wasn't able to see everything until today," said Barber. "Once she got there and got to see everything and meet everyone, she fell in love with it. She loved the coaches and she likes how much they care about their players.

"Also, the education that I'll receive there is great, so today was really about her. Now that I was able to show her how nice everything was, she told me that now would be the best time to do it."

Barber has visited State College as a prospect on at least five different occasions dating back to last February. That's allowed him to become familiar with many of the staff's other top targets, including future Nittany Lion quarterback Sean Clifford.

"Sean is my guy," Barber said, referring to Clifford. "We've been talking some on Twitter. He's been telling me that he knows my mom is going to love it here, so I have to commit when I come up. But I was also with Micah (Parsons) and Shaquon (Anderson-Butts) a lot. I was probably with them most of the day."

Barber is currently the 24th-ranked defensive end and the 11th-ranked prospect in Pennsylvania for the Class of 2017. He was the second Harrisburg-area defensive prospect to commit to Penn State Saturday, joining 2018 prospect Micah Parsons.