Blessed & Honored: Saleem Wormley Visits, Two Targets Commit Elsewhere, Tyler Rudolph’s Top Five and more

Three-Star Offensive Lineman Visits Penn State

Delaware offensive lineman Saleem Wormley visited Penn State on Saturday. For Wormley, this was his second trip to Happy Valley in three weeks.

While Wormley remains uncommitted, the Nittany Lions should be considered the heavy favorites to land Wormley’s commitment. One of the most encouraging parts of Wormley’s visit is that he was not originally supposed to visit Penn State this past weekend, but changed his plans to make that happen. Other schools that have offered Wormley include Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, and Notre Dame, among others.

The Nittany Lions could have a very strong offensive line group in their 2019 recruiting class with players such as Wormley, Caedan Wallace, Jakai Moore, and Xavier Truss. We may also see the dominoes start to fall with offensive line recruiting sooner rather than later.

A Potential Transfer Visits Campus

Also on campus over the weekend was Notre Dame running back C.J. Holmes.

Over the weekend Holmes posted on his Instagram that he was visiting Penn State. This visit comes after Holmes was dismissed from the Notre Dame program back in December along with two other players for shoplifting from a Macy’s.

In high school, Holmes was a four-star prospect from Connecticut and for much of his recruitment the Nittany Lions were among his leaders. While Holmes will have to sit out the 2018 season no matter where he transfers to, unless its a FCS school, adding him to the running back room for 2019 could be a nice boost for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State Targets Shine at The Opening Charlotte

This weekend The Opening held its Charlotte regional competition, and a pair of Penn State linebacker targets shined at the competition. Five-star linebacker Owen Pappoe posted the best testing score in the history of The Opening.

Pappoe is a Loganville, Georgia, native and will take an official visit to Penn State for the Blue White Game this weekend. While landing a commitment from Pappoe appears to be a longshot, he does have ties to the university so there are reasons to believe his interest in the Nittany Lions is genuine.

Fellow five-star linebacker Brandon Smith competed in Charlotte this weekend as well. Like Pappoe, Smith was one of the best players there. On top of running a 4.5 second 40-yard dash, he also posted the 15th best overall testing score, and 2nd best among linebackers behind just Pappoe, among the players in Charlotte.

While Smith’s recruitment is far from over, the Nittany Lions currently appear to be in a solid position to land his commitment.

Ronnie Hickman, Taisun Phommachanh Commit Elsewhere

Over the weekend, a pair of Penn State targets committed elsewhere. Four-star athlete Ronnie Hickman committed to Ohio State, while the Clemson Tigers landed a commitment from four-star quarterback Taisun Phommachanh.

Hickman’s commitment came as no surprise as he had been viewed as a Buckeye lean for quite awhile, despite making multiple visits to Happy Valley.

As for Phommachanh, his commitment was a bit of a surprise. He had recently visited Penn State and the Nittany Lions appeared to have positioned themselves to get an official visit form the Connecticut standout. However, he decided to end his recruitment during his visit to Clemson over the weekend instead.

Luckily for the Nittany Lions, they already have a darn good quarterback in Ta’Quan Roberson on board as part of their 2019 recruiting class. With Tommy Stevens now back in the fold, too, it’s looking less and less likely that Penn State will take a second quarterback this year.

LSU Commit Plans to Officially Visit Penn State

Five-star offensive lineman Kardell Thomas may be committed to LSU, but that does not mean his recruitment is over. According to ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren, the Baton Rouge native plans to take at least three official visits, one of which will be to Penn State.

While flipping a Baton Rouge native that is committed to LSU will be nearly impossible for James Franklin and company to pull off, any time a five-star player wants to take an official visit to campus it is a good thing. It is also beneficial to work to begin to form relationships with high school coaching staffs by hosting their players on official visits.

Penn State in Top Group for Tyler Rudolph

Four-star defensive back Tyler Rudolph has released his top-5 and it includes Penn State. Joining the Nittany Lions is Clemson, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio State.

Penn State has long been viewed as the heavy favorite for Rudolph, who plans to announce his commitment in June, and they completely own the 247 Sports crystal ball predictions for Rudolph.

Rudolph is also among the players set to make an official visit to Penn State this weekend.