One of the fastest-rising quarterbacks in the class of 2023, Jaxon Smolik has officially decided to commit to Penn State just a day after decommitting from Tulane.
“WE ARE PENN STATE,” Smolik said via Twitter. “After further conversations with my family I have decided to commit to Penn State University! Thank you to God, my family and coaches.”
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound quarterback prospect has emerged recently as one of the better quarterback prospects in the country recently following a strong Elite 11 camp performance.
For those of you that don't know, Smolik was a late addition fill in for the Elite 11 Finals camp, where he booked a last minute flight before the event and finished fifth overall in the Pro Day portion of the weekend events.
"They called me about 7 p.m. the night before, and they got me booked for a flight at 6 a.m. the next morning," Smolik told TheWaveReport. "I got there at like 10 or 11. I had no idea this was going to happen. It was random out of the spot. It was just awesome.”
The strong Elite 11 performance really caught the attention of the Penn State staff, but they still wanted to get him on campus to evaluate him with their own eyes. So the staff did just that as he came to compete as the program's final camp of the year on July 29th.
“They offered me after the camp," said Smolik. "It is an incredible feeling to get an offer from Penn State, I’ve always been a huge fan of Trace McSorley's game so this meant a lot. I also got to see the facilities and they are amazing. I loved the entire camp experience including the campus tour. I did not get a chance to hang out with other recruits, I mostly just hung out with the coaches, but they did have me throw a lot to Ejani (Shakir) and Andrew (Rappleyea).”
On top of the camp, Smolik also got to spend a lot of time with the coaches and really connected with Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Mike Yurcich, especially since they both like the same type of music.
“Coach Yurich and I really had a great time talking about the program and music," Smolik said. "We both like the same kind of music, like Nirvana and bands like that. They actually took me out in the middle of Beaver Stadium and played Nirvana through the speakers because I had told them how much I liked Nirvana. It was a very special moment."
Smolik doesn’t have any set plans to get back to campus just yet, but expect him to schedule an official visit for the fall as he hopes to be back in State College shortly.
