Penn State became the latest Power Five program to offer Pennsylvania prospect Ryan Brubaker last week.

Listed at 6-foot-6, 280 pounds, Brubaker grabbed the attention of a few Group of Five and Ivy League programs this summer and fall, but that all began to change in 2021. After earning an offer from Ole Miss at the end of January, nine additional Power Five schools offered in about a three-week span in February. He’s now up to 18 total scholarship offers.

However, despite being an in-state prospect, Brubaker said he didn’t have much of a relationship with the Nittany Lions until just a few weeks ago. Even now, it’s still early.

“So, probably about two-and-a-half to three weeks before the offer, [Phil Trautwein] reached out,” Brubaker said. “He had reached out before. We use Go Big Recruiting and they kind of passed along some stuff to him, so he already kind of knew about me but there wasn't a relationship there yet. …So, we got on [FaceTime] and talked twice on that, plus a phone call, leading up to the offer. We were just trying to get to know each other a little bit better and all that type of stuff.”

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