Rivals250 OL Drew Shelton commits to Penn State

Penn State's momentum in the Class of 2022 continued Friday with the addition of another in-state prospect, offensive lineman Drew Shelton.

A 6-foot-5, 275-pound offensive tackle, Shelton is not only one of Penn State's top offensive line targets, but he's also one of the staff's top 10 overall prospects in the class. Even before he was offered by the Nittany Lions in May, graduate assistant Ty Howle did an excellent job kick-starting an early relationship. From there, he became most comfortable with Phil Trautwein and James Franklin, making this an easy decision to not wait.

"Well, there were two things for me," Shelton said. "Who wouldn't want to win a national championship for your home state? That was one thing for me, as well as really connecting with a bunch of their coaches. Coach Howle, Coach Trautwein and Coach Franklin all built good relationships with me. We really had a great connection, so I figured if I already knew what I wanted to do, why wait it out?"

In the beginning of August, Shelton and his family made the trip to State College to check out University Park and the surrounding area. It was his first and only trip to Happy Valley, and it clearly left a strong impression.

“I really liked it. I thought it was really nice,” he said. “Even without the students there, from the people I did interact with, they were fun to talk with. I told some people that I was thinking about coming there, so they ended up telling me a lot of good stuff about the area. I heard nothing but great things.”

Shelton has always said that once he knows what he wants to do, he'll just decide rather than announcing top schools and drawing everything out. He said he's been thinking about this commitment regularly since last month's trip, and it became even more real last week.

"I've thought about it for a good amount of time now," Shelton said. "I didn't really think it would happen so soon, but about a week or so ago, I realized that I wanted to make this happen. I just knew it was the place I wanted to be. I saw campus a couple weeks ago. Seeing that for my own eyes, I realized that was a special place. That's why I wanted to shut it down."

Shelton is the fifth Class of 2022 prospect to commit to Penn State in the past six weeks. He's the second in-state prospect to end his recruitment, joining York QB Beau Pribula. He's also the third four-star player to commit, joining WR Kaden Saunders and TE Jerry Cross. TE Holden Staes, from Atlanta, is the fifth future Nittany Lion.

The Nittany Lions remain at No. 3 overall in the Class of 2022. Ohio State has the top-ranked class with six commitments, while LSU is ranked No. 2 with seven commitments. Shelton is now the highest-ranked player in the class, coming in at No. 110 overall. He's the 14th-ranked offensive tackle and No. 3 overall in Pennsylvania for 2022.

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