Blessed & Honored: Top Groups, New In-State Offer, And More

TWO OF 2020s FINEST RELEASE THEIR TOP GROUP

On Sunday, five-star class of 2020 linebacker Mekhail Sherman released a Top 10 that included Penn State.

Sherman recently visited Penn State along with a group of teammates from St. John’s College High School in Washington D.C., making it his fourth visit to Happy Valley in the last year. While it’s still early, Sherman projects as one of the best linebackers in the country in the 2020 class, and the Nittany Lions have certainly made a great early impression with him thus far.

Wednesday afternoon, 2020 five-star wide receiver Julian Fleming celebrated the 4th of July by getting in on the Twitter fun by dropping a top group as well.

The biggest takeaway from Fleming’s group is the lack of Alabama and Josh Gattis. Many had long believed that the Nittany Lions’ biggest threat to the Southern Columbia superstar would be the Crimson Tide, so the lack of Josh Gattis and Co. is a welcomed sign.

Of course, James Franklin and David Corley will have to continue to fight their tails off here, but they will be very difficult to beat in Fleming’s recruiting. USC and Ohio State are the two schools that would worry me most moving forward.

PENN STATE OFFERS AARON YOUNG

In a bit of a surprising move, the Nittany Lions offered class of 2019 running back Aaron Young on Sunday evening. Penn State joins Arkansas, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Stanford in offering the Coatesville product.

While Coach Franklin and his staff plan to take two running backs in the 2019 class, the Nittany Lions appear to be in the thick of things for top-100 runner Noah Cain. So, to see an offer go out to a running back, especially one that is a Pennsylvania product, before Cain makes a decision was a surprise.

NITTANY LION COMMITS COMPETE AT THE OPENING FINALS

The Opening Finals brought some of the best high school football players in America to Dallas this past weekend. When you included Lance Dixon and John Dunmore, the Nittany Lions had six commits competing in Dallas.

Caedan Wallace and Hakeem Beamon also participated in Dallas over the weekend.

JOHN METCHIE (MAYBE?) SET TO DECIDE

If this ominous tweet means anything, four-star wideout John Metchie might be announcing his college decision tonight at 6 p.m.

Metchie’s decision comes after he took official visits to Penn State and Alabama in consecutive weekends in early June. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, the Crimson Tide appear to be surging and trending for Metchie. Luckily, landing John Dunmore helps to cushion the blow of the Nittany Lions appearing to be on their way to missing out on arguably their top wide receiver target.