Five 2022 defensive prospects that will determine the class's success

It's been an up and down year for Penn State recruiting, to say the least. The Class of 2021 is no doubt talented, but it's the players that the staff missed on that has earned most of the publicity this year. Even James Franklin himself admitted that the class wasn't "up to the standard" that fans have come to expect in recent years.

On the flip side, Penn State has also seen its Class of 2022 get off to the kind of start that quite frankly is hard to believe given the fact that players haven't been able to visit campus for eight months now. With six players already committed, including four prospects within the Rivals250, it's given fans a reason to feel good about the program's perception.

However, what will ultimately answer that question of perception is not how the class starts, but how it finishes. We won't know that answer until December 2021, but there will be clues and hints along the way.

To get a better feel for how the staff will reach its goals, I complied a list of five 2022 defensive players that fans have to focus on in the months ahead. Landing these players will go a long way in determining just how good Penn State's Class of 2022 is when it's all said and done.

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There’s a lot to like here if you’re a Penn State fan. In fact, personally, I think he's my favorite prospect in this entire class. Physically, Dennis-Sutton is a very impressive prospect at an important position of need for the 2022 class. That's important, but he's also great off the field, too. That matters. In the eyes of Franklin and his staff, I think he’s the most important prospect outside of Pennsylvania for 2022. Dennis-Sutton also plays at a school that Penn State has had a ton of success at in recent years, landing prospects in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 classes. So far, he's only been able to attend a game at PSU, so tours of campus and one-on-one time with the staff will prove important, but it feels like the Lions are set to be a serious player, if not the early favorite.

This time last year, it felt like Penn State was a lock to make Murphy’s top five or so schools. Nowadays, I’m not as confident in that happening, but he’s still high on the Nittany Lions and is a player that could help take this class from very good to an elite level. With that said, it does feel like Ohio State is emerging as the favorite here, and it doesn’t help that Penn State stopped recruiting his high school teammate, Tyleik Williams, who went on to commit to Ohio State a few months ago. With that said, Murphy has been to Penn State twice already and was in attendance for one of the last recruiting events that took place before the pandemic shut everything down. If visits are allowed in spring 2021, you won't find many players that the staff needs to get one campus quicker than Murphy.

The last time Penn State landed a cornerback from St. Joseph’s Prep, he turned out to be a pretty good one in John Reid. Aside from camping with the staff back in June 2018, Nelson hasn’t taken a true visit to Penn State yet, but Terry Smith has done a good job developing a relationship with Nelson and his father. They’ve also done a handful of Zoom calls to get to know members of the staff. His father spoke highly of those experiences, too. At the moment, Notre Dame is clearly Penn State’s top competitor, but until he’s able to see some schools, it’s hard to really lean one way or the other.

Sabb is listed as an athlete on Rivals, but Penn State is recruiting him as a safety. Both of Penn State’s defensive back coaches, Terry Smith and Tim Banks, are pushing hard for Sabb, and all indications so far suggest that it's one of his stronger player-coach relationships. He’s also opened up about his relationship with former Penn State wide receiver Juwan Johnson, who’s from the same hometown, Glassboro, N.J. Despite transferring to Oregon, Sabb has said that Johnson has had nothing but good things to say about his time in Happy Valley. Sabb attended last year’s game against Michigan, so he does have some familiarity with the program, but Rutgers is the only other school he’s seen so far. He needs to get out to some schools in the spring to get a better feel for who’s truly standing out. At the moment, I look to Texas A&M and Clemson as Penn State’s top competitors. PSU alum and current A&M defensive line coach Elijah Robinson has done a great job recruiting throughout Philadelphia and New Jersey, and Sabb is now one of his top targets for 2022.

I personally rank Dennis-Sutton ahead of White, but not by much. When you add in the fact that he's from Pennsylvania, that may give him a slight edge on the staff’s board. Either way, both are very important prospects for 2020. Philadelphia native Deion Barnes is making a major push with White, as is basically the entire defensive coaching staff. All hands are on deck for this one. Ohio State should be a contender, too, but early indications do suggest that he's interested in playing the SEC. Let's see how visits go before making any predictions, but I do get the impression that Dennis-Sutton is a more realistic add at the moment when it comes to the two elite pass rushers in this class.

There are at least four other players that I believe have to mentioned here, beginning with Shippensburg, Pa., defensive lineman Anthony Smith. Compared to the other players on this list, he's not as highly-ranked, but Penn State likes what they've seen so far and he's another in-state player. I had a source compare him to Khalil Dinkins this week in regards to Smith being an underrated Pennsylvania prospect that's not getting talked about enough. You're going to hear me stress how important Pennsylvania is a lot this year.

At linebacker, Jaishawn Barham is another player that is very high on the staff's board. If he was still at DeMatha, and not St. Frances, I'd feel better about Penn State's chances here, but he's still high enough on PSU that I expect the Lions to be among his top 10, possibly top five.

The other two are defensive backs that I probably haven't talked about as much as I should, beginning with Michigan cornerback Will Johnson. The five-star hasn't visited Penn State yet, but Terry Smith has really done a good job with Johnson and his father. I think a lot of people have him penciled in to go to Michigan, and that is probably the pick currently, but the more I talk to people, the more I believe that Penn State is in a sneaky good position here.

The other is safety Cristian Driver. The son of former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver, Cristian has said on multiple occasions that he wants Penn State to be one of the first schools he sees once visits are allowed again. His father also remains friends with Franklin, who coached Driver in Green Bay back in 2005.

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