7/8/2023 football Edit

Penn State Decision Day Preview: DE Mylachi Williams

Dylan Callaghan-Croley • Happy Valley Insider

Editor

This evening at 8:00 p.m. EST, Philadelphia (PA) defensive end Mylachi Williams will announce his college decision. The Monsignor Bonner standout is down to Penn State, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh, taking official visits to all three schools last month.

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THE RECRUITMENT

Williams is a prospect that blew up this past January, seeing his stock skyrocket.

Temple was his first offer in mid-January before earning an offer from the Nittany Lions shortly afterward after attending Penn State's Junior Day. "I was shocked," Williams told Happy Valley Insider shortly after the offer. "I wasn’t expecting an offer on the spot like that," he added.

"It means a lot I can play in big-time games, and it's close to home." The pass rusher also enjoyed his conversations with head coach James Franklin and then defensive line coach John Scott Jr. "It was great they told me all about the program and how they develop all of their players."

Following the Penn State offer, the offers would continue to pour in; West Virginia, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College, Duke, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Georgia, USC, and the list goes on.

Despite the offers and a change on the defensive line with John Scott Jr headed to the NFL and Deion Barnes taking over as the defensive line coach, it remained clear that the Nittany Lions would remain a major factor in his recruitment throughout the process. Notre Dame early on looked to be Penn State's top competition, but things changed between Williams and the Fighting Irish heading into June, making the Nittany Lions the perceived front-runner.

He took an official visit to Penn State in June before making visits to Syracuse and Pittsburgh on each of the two weekends afterward. Leading to tonight's decision.

WHAT DO THE FUTURECASTS SAY?

Currently, there is a trio of FutureCasts in for Williams here on Rivals. One by national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman and two by Happy Valley Insider recruiting analysts. All three FutureCasts are in favor of the Nittany Lions.

PENN STATE'S 2024 RECRUITING CLASS TO DATE

Penn State holds 21 commitments to date in their 2024 recruiting class, ranking seventh in the Rivals team recruiting rankings. The Nittany Lions have landed seven commitments since the beginning of June, including landing defensive lineman DeAndre Cook (Washington, DC) last week. The Nittany Lions hold one other defensive line commitment in Colbumia (MD)'s Xavier Gilliam.