Oh, Hello: 2018 LB Jesse Luketa Commits to Penn State

Hometown/High School: Ontario, Canada — Erie, PA (Mercyhurst Prep)

Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 225 pounds

Recruited by: Brent Pry

Notable Offers: LSU, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Stanford, UCLA, West Virginia

Luketa is no stranger to Happy Valley. The Canadian prospect had been on campus three times prior to this weekend, visiting Penn State last April, May, and September. Once he landed his offer from the Nittany Lions in late January, it was only a matter of time before the outside linebacker made the call for Penn State.

Luketa joins Charlie Katshir as the second linebacker in the class. Currently, Luketa is rated as a 0.8586 three-star by the 247Composite, but that should rise in the comings weeks once the recruiting sites see his film. He’s a legitimate four-star, top 200-type player in this blogger’s humble opinion.

We talked a little bit about Luketa in a Committany Nation a few weeks ago. There’s a lot to like about him — he’s strong blitzing or dropping back, shows good closing speed, and has the frame to carry around 235 pounds with ease. He’s still a little raw and gets away with things just because he’s on another level athletically, but it’s all things that can be cleaned up pretty quickly. Think he could also be a kid who could play both outside or inside, which is always a positive.

Brent Pry has to be rather delighted with the linebacker haul so far in 2018. Both Katshir and Luketa are two long, athletic, smart kids, and should be great fits in the program. Beyond those two, expect to see Pry push for one more linebacker. Would imagine that two of the guys at the very top of the list would be Virginia’s Teradja Mitchell and Ohio’s Brian Asamoah.

Welcome to Happy Valley, Jesse!