Committany Nation: Dylan Rivers Flips to Virginia Tech

Linebacker Recruiting Woes Continue At Linebacker-U

If there was one spot the Nittany Lions couldn’t afford to take a hit, it was linebacker. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to Penn State, as longtime commit Dylan Rivers rescinded his verbal to the Nittany Lions, flipping his commitment to Virginia Tech.

This is a big blow. Penn State continues to battle depth problems at linebacker, and Rivers was looked at as a player who could have stepped in right away to alleviate some of those concerns. Due to his size and athleticism, he definitely had the looks of a kid who was going to be a three-year starter in Happy Valley, but alas, that won’t be the case now.

Moving forward, Penn State will almost assuredly need another linebacker in this class. It looks like the top target will be Virginia linebacker Ellis Brooks, who landed an offer from the Nittany Lions shortly following Rivers’ decommitment.

Brooks is a very talented player in his own right, and a prospect that has seen his stock soar in recent weeks due to a strong showing down at the Under Armour All-American game. So far, he’s officially visited Maryland, Oregon, Northwestern, and LSU, so he has plenty of options. It remains to be seen if Brooks will visit Penn State in the coming two weeks, but one would think that James Franklin and Brent Pry will go all-out for his services.

CJ Thorpe Reaffirms Commitment

It wasn’t all bad news for Penn State coming out of the weekend. The Nittany Lions resecured the verbal of four-star offensive guard CJ Thorpe, who visited UCLA and planned on taking a visit to Michigan this coming weekend. But after his official to Penn State, that visit to Ann Arbor doesn’t appear to be happening anymore as Thorpe reaffirmed his commitment to the Nittany Lions.

Official Visit Weekend: Twitter

Here’s some tweets from the weekend.

2018 Safety Set to Visit

Four-star Philadelphia safety Isheem Young will be at Penn State next Sunday (January 29) for what’s set to be a mini-Junior Day for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State currently has one safety — Texas product Isaiah Humphries — committed in 2018, but should look to add at least one or two more. Young is certainly right at the very top of the list, so it’ll be good to get him back on campus for the first time since July. Penn State along with Florida State are presumed to be his two leading schools.