Five must land recruits for Penn State in the 2024 recruiting cycle
The 2024 recruiting cycle is going to be an important one for Penn State. The Nittany Lions have stacked strong back-to-back recruiting classes and now coming off an 11-2 season with a Rose Bowl title, the program has a ton of momentum on and off the field.
That means not only will there be high expectations on the field in 2023 but there will be high expectations for the the 2024 recruiting class. In this cycle, Penn State will not only need to put together a strong recruiting class across the board but will need to answer various needs in major ways.
Here are five recruits in the 2024 recruiting cycle we believe are must lands for the Nittany Lions, whether it's due to but not limited to their outright talent, helping build a pipeline to a key recruiting ground, or just fulfilling a position of need.
1. DT Ernest Willor
Willor actually may project best as a defensive tackle at the next level but Penn State early on in this recruitment has had a strong presence in the IMG Academy product's recruitment. He was on campus in October for the White Out. WIllor is originally out of Baltimore (MD) so location shouldn't be an issue for the 6-foot-4, 250+ defensive line prospect. This isn't going to be an easy recruitment to win but Penn State is definitely setting themselves up to be a player long term in this recruitment.
The Nittany Lions have struggled in recruiting and finding elite defensive tackles on the recruiting trail but Willor could finally be that guy if they could in fact land the high four-star prospect.
2. One of their three DMV LB targets
A little bit of a cheat here but we'll see that the Nittany Lions must land at least one of the three linebacker prospects above. Chiles is by far the best linebacker out of the three and they're in the running but the Michigan Wolverines have emerged as the potential favorite for him at this standpoint. Jones, and Harvey, however, Penn State could likely be designated as the likely leader for both prospects.
Jones has been to Penn State multiple times and seems to enjoy each and every visit and the Nittany Lions as we know have cleaned up in the Old Dominion State over the last few years. Harvey, on the other hand, we already have FutureCasted to land with the Nittany Lions. While he seems content in taking his recruitment as long as possible, we also expect Penn State to increase the pressure on the Quince Orchard linebacker over the next few months to try and get him in the fold before he takes official visits.
Penn State is also in a very good spot for Michigan linebacker Kari Jackson.
While the Nittany Lions recruitment of linebackers has been pretty good over the last few cycles, the talent on paper has not resulted in success on the field at a consistent rate, creating a bit of a depth issue at the position.
They already landed Anthony Speca at the position in the class, if they could add at least one if not two of the three above (or Kari Jackson), that would be a pretty good haul at linebacker for the Nittany Lions. Possibly three of four as well if they decide to take Harvey as a defensive end rather than a linebacker. as he's currently projected to be.
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