Oh, Goodbye: Three-Star TE Nick Elksnis Decommits From Penn State

Penn State’s 2021 recruiting will go on without Jacksonville, Florida tight end Nick Elksnis. Elksnis, a three-star out of Episcopal High School announced his deccommitment from the program on Sunday afternoon. With the departure, the Nittany Lions 2021 class now holds two commitments in ATH Liam Clifford (Cincinnati, OH) and offensive guard Nate Bruce (Harrisburg, PA).

Elksnis originally committed to the program back on July 31 of last year after making a visit to Happy Valley in the days before. He would get back on campus twice this past season with his last visit coming on October 19.

Since then, Elksnis recruitment has gained more traction with some of the south’s premier programs beginning to make the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Elksnis a priority including the in-state Florida Gators. Overall, he’s garnered 23 scholarship offers according to his 247Sports profile.

The decommitment is the second in the 2021 recruiting class for the Nittany Lions after losing the commitment of four-star wide receiver Dont’e Thornton last August. Of course, there was the brief Nate Bruce saga this past month where Bruce would decommit from the program just to say only not long after he was still committed to the program.

While the loss of Elksnis does definitely sting for the Nittany Lions, it is one that they should be able to recover from quite well. Tight end has been a position that James Franklin and the coaching staff especially Tyler Bowen has recruited extremely well over the past few recruiting cycles including landing four-star Theo Johnson in the 2020 recruiting class.