Ladies and gentlemen, PJ Mustipher!
The Skinny
Hometown/High School: Owings Mills, Maryland (McDonough School)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 290 pounds
Rankings: Four-star on 247, Rivals, Scout, and ESPN
Notable Offers: Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Maryland, Michigan, and Tennessee
Highlights
The Tale
Mustipher has been a Penn State target for quite some time, first visiting Happy Valley as a recruit back on November 15, 2014. For some context, I couldn’t legally drink alcohol back then — I’m 23 now — so it’s safe to say that Mustipher’s recruitment has been one for the long haul.
Mustipher was once thought to end up at Notre Dame where his brother, Sam, is the Irish’s starting offensive center. But as PJ’s recruitment went on, Penn State, Tennessee, and Maryland looked like the likely destinations. After multiple visits to Happy Valley, Mustipher made the call for the Nittany Lions.
Mustipher is ranked as the 6th best defensive tackle and the 98th overall player in the country, according to 247Sports Composite. He’s the second prospect from Maryland in the class, joining four-star wideout Daniel George.
Outlook
Defensive tackle recruiting hasn’t been the easiest thing in the world for Penn State. While the Nittany Lions have landed their fair share of good looking prospects, they always seemed to come up just short for the elite (on paper) guys — Jarron Jones, Thomas Holley, Christian Wilkins, and Karamo Dioubate to name a couple. With Mustipher now in the fold, it looks like Penn State finally bucked the trend.
In Mustipher, Penn State is getting one of the top defensive tackles in the country. He already has great size at 6-foot-4, 290 pounds, but should be able to hold 315 pounds rather easily. Looks to have really long arms, and obviously knows a thing or two about leverage as he’s a Maryland state champion wrestler. He’s probably athletic enough to play either defensive tackle spot, but it’s more likely that he ends up as a 1-Technique.
Mustipher will be joining Judge Culpepper at defensive tackle, and with Penn State looking like the favorite for Aeneas Hawkins, it’s becoming more likely that Dorian Hardy — once thought to grow into a defensive tackle — stays at defensive end.
Welcome to Penn State, PJ!