Five Penn State targets who should make the 2023 Rivals250

Rivals is set to announce its top 250 players for the Class of 2023 on Tuesday.

As expected, head coach James Franklin and the entire Penn State coaching staff finds themselves in the mix with many of the region's top players, as well as some who live outside of the staff's normal recruiting territory.

When Rivals announced its top 100 for the class earlier this year, the Nittany Lions had extended offers to just over half of the players who made the cut, and we would expect that trend to hold true when the entire 250 is announced tomorrow afternoon.

Penn State's lone commitment in the Class of 2023, OL Alex Birchmeier, currently ranks No. 61 overall. He's expected to remain in a similar position.

Below are five players who I believe should make the cut.

A native of Voorhees, N.J., James Heard decided in June to play his final two seasons at Philadelphia powerhouse St. Joseph’s Prep. He had already held an offer from the Nittany Lions, which came over a year ago, in April 2020. Heard is up to a dozen scholarship offers now, with Kentucky being the most recent program to make a move just a few days ago.

At 6-foot-2, 224 pounds, schools would love to see him add another inch or two, but his technique rushing off the edge is already ahead of most players his age. That was evident at multiple camps this summer, as Heard took home top performer honors at both the Under Armour regional camp in Baltimore and the Rivals regional camp in New Jersey. He also performed well at Rivals' Underclassmen Showcase in Atlanta.

“Measuring just 6-foot-2 and 224 pounds, James Heard is not the first guy you notice on the field, especially in a defensive line group as talented as the one in New Jersey,” said Rivals analyst Adam Friedman at the time. “However, Heard makes you take notice when the ball is snapped. He understands leverage and was surprisingly strong at the point of attack going against offensive linemen who were taller and longer. [At Rivals Camp], he racked up win after win, regularly frustrating offensive linemen with his speed and agility.”

With so many talented linebackers in the region, we haven’t talked about IMG Academy prospect Jordan Hall as much as we probably should. A native of Fredericksburg, Va., Hall visited Penn State this past June and spoke highly of the experience.

"I love it, and I think my family loved it too," he said. "It felt very family-oriented. The facilities are great. The coaches were great. We loved everything about it."

An honor roll student, Hall is excellent both on and off the field. As a sophomore at James Monroe High School, he totaled over 90 tackles, including 23 for a loss of yards, earning All-Region and All-Area honors. At the time, he was close to surpassing 245 pounds, but he decided to slim down so he could continue playing linebacker and it’s proven to be a great decision.

Hall also decided to transfer to IMG that offseason and he picked up right where he left off, leading the team in tackles with 43. He also had 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery playing against the best competition in the country.

Hall is now up to 13 scholarship offers. In addition to Penn State, he visited Florida, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, UCF, Virginia and Virginia Tech this summer.

Payne picked up an offer from the Nittany Lions in early April and has since emerged as one of Terry Smith’s top defensive back targets in the class. Up to seven scholarship offers now, we expect that list to grow in the months ahead, as schools up and down the East Coast have made it clear that they’ll be watching his film closely in September.

Pitt and Penn State were the only two schools to actually work him out this summer. He ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash at Penn State’s Whiteout Camp, June 6, while also holding his own against future Nittany Lion receiver Kaden Saunders in field drills. Payne then improved on his 40 at Pitt’s camp on June 16, running a 4.51.

Those two schools also got him on campus multiple times, as Pitt hosted him for an unofficial visit a few weeks earlier on June 1. He returned to Penn State for unofficial visits on June 22 and July 31. I feel as if the Nittany Lions are an early favorite with Payne. West Virginia is another school to keep an eye on. He visited Morgantown last month.

Just like Payne, we expect many of the region’s top schools to be watching Robinson’s film closely from the first month of the season. With McDonogh choosing not to play at all in 2020, Robinson only has a limited amount of film from his freshman season. Penn State was one of a few schools that he camped at this summer, along with Clemson, North Carolina, N.C. State and South Carolina.

Robinson chose not to run the 40 at any of the camps he attended this summer, but he did consistently run the shuttle around 4.7 seconds while also bench pressing 225 pounds around a dozen times. At 6-foot-3, 217 pounds, schools like that combination, so as long as he’s able to translate that to the field in the months ahead, we expect his offer sheet to grow substantially by the end of 2021. With that said, he already has a handful of solid offers from Penn State, Boston College, Georgia, Pitt and South Carolina.

In addition to camp, Penn State hosted Robinson for its junior day back on June 5.

Shuler had a busy summer, visiting Penn State, Boston College, Maryland and Notre Dame. He actually came to Penn State twice, taking an unofficial visit with his teammates the first week of June before returning for the Lasch Bash Barbecue just a few weeks ago. Within the days that followed, he put out a top three of Penn State, Maryland and Notre Dame, and even announced that he’s set to make a commitment this upcoming Sunday, Aug. 15.

His decision is expected to be between the Nittany Lions and Fighting Irish. Most of our colleagues believe he’s leaning towards Notre Dame with just under a week to go, but we know Shuler is still communicating with Penn State daily, so we’re not completely writing him off just yet. Shuler had a Zoom with Penn State’s staff last week, as well as with academic advisors, and we expect another Zoom to take place in the near future. Either way, he’s one of the region’s top prospects, totaling 14 scholarship offers so far. Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pitt and West Virginia are a few other notable schools who offered.

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