Oh, Goodbye: PA Safety Andrew Pryts De-Commits From Penn State

Four-star safety Andrew Pryts has decided that he will decommit from Penn State. He announced the news during a ceremony at his high school for National Signing Day. Pryts will flip his commitment from James Franklin to David Shaw, as he will head to Stanford.

A three/four-star recruit out of Hermitage, PA, Pryts originally committed to Penn State on August 29 of last year. He is the son of former Nittany Lion linebacker Ed Pryts, which made him the only son of a former player in this year's class. Including Penn State and Stanford, Pryts held offers from 22 schools, most notably Ohio State and Notre Dame, which both vied heavily for his services.

There started to be questions about Pryts' commitment when Bob Shoop left State College for Tennessee. Shoop was credited with being one of the main people who helped seal a commitment from Pryts, and once he left, there were plenty of people speculating that Pryts could head elsewhere. He took a visit to Stanford in January, visited Penn State the following weekend, and decided to mull them both over before making his final decision.

Considering safety is a question mark heading into 2016, losing a guy like Pryts is a sizable blow for Franklin's class. None of Penn State's 18 commits in this class play safety, and while the Nittany Lions will return several players who played last year – namely Marcus Allen, Troy Akpe, and Malik Golden – the team will likely need to lean heavily on some young players. The most prominent names are redshirt sophomore Koa Farmer and redshirt freshmen Jarvis Miller, Ayron Monroe, and John Petrishen. There was also a report on Monday that Nick Scott will move from running back to safety.

We'd like to wish Pryts the best of luck at Stanford.