Oh, Hello: Three-Star LB Kobe King Commits to Penn State

The Skinny

Height/Weight: 6-foot, 223 pounds
Hometown/High School: Detroit, MI (Cass Technical)
Ranking: ★★★ (0.8739 247Sports Composite)
Notable Offers: Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

Highlights

The Tale

King, who committed alongside his twin brother Kalen, received an offer all the way back in June of 2019. While he never made it to University Park during the 2019 season for an unofficial, he did come up for a junior day in January and that’s when Penn State began to make a real push.

At the time, the Nittany Lions were considered an outside threat for the twins, but Michigan was considered the leader with Wisconsin and Michigan State right there behind.

With the news that Penn State was surging for Michigan safety Jaylen Reed, who had originally set a commit date of May 10 before moving it up to April 9, when he committed to PSU, there also came scuttlebutt that the Nittany Lions were surging with the Kings, among other Michigan prospects.

Not long after, they each released lists with their final five schools, Penn State among them. That sparked a series of 247Sports crystal ball picks for PSU and now here we are.

Outlook

King’s recruiting ranking is capped a bit by the fact that he’s probably limited to playing inside linebacker at the next level due to his size and lack of eye-popping speed and agility numbers.

But don’t be fooled, the Nittany Lions are getting a very solid player in Kobe King. He bears a similarity to current Penn State linebacker Ellis Brooks in that he has the size and instincts to come in and play fairly quickly, though neither is an athletic freak.

King plays downhill and is very good at working through the wash to get to the ball. He’s a sure tackler who has improved at getting off blocks over the course of his career. Where he struggles, and likely will continue to struggle a bit due to athletic and physical limitations, in coverage.

He’s probably not a guy you’ll have on the field for all three downs, but he’s the type of player you value a ton in the Big Ten when you come up against teams like Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan State who want to overpower you with the run game.

I could very easily see King becoming a rotation player early in his career and ending his time at Penn State as a starter.