Oh, Hello: 2022 Four-Star ATH Ken Talley Commits to Penn State

THE SKINNY

Height/Weight: 6-foot-2, 215 pounds
Hometown/High School: Philadelphia, PA (Northeast H.S.)
Ranking: ★★★★ (0.9348 247Sports Composite — No. 165 Overall)
Notable Offers: Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech

HIGHLIGHTS

THE TALE

After attending two camps for Penn State last summer, Talley earned his offer from the Nittany Lions on June 22, 2019. He took two official visits since then — both for games last fall — and with Penn State hiring former Northeast defensive line coach Deion Barnes, it was only a matter of time before Talley made the call for the Nittany Lions.

With Talley’s commitment, he becomes the sixth commit in Penn State’s 2022 recruiting class, which is now ranked No. 3 overall, trailing just LSU and Ohio State.

OUTLOOK

If you watch Talley’s highlights, it’s mostly him at defensive end getting after quarterback. While it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Talley end up at defensive end at the next level, he’s likely to be an outside linebacker in Penn State’s 4-3 defense.

The first thing that jumps out about Talley is his athleticism. He’s got a quick first step and gets up to top-speed very quickly, and provided he doesn’t add too much mass to his frame, I don’t think the question for Talley will be if he is athletic enough to play linebacker. Rather, it will be about picking up the nuances of playing linebacker.

Defensive coordinator and linebacker coach Brent Pry has a pretty good track record of taking high school defensive ends and turning them into good linebackers — maybe you have heard of Micah Parsons before — so the precedent is there. It’s just a matter of seeing how Talley grows these next couple years.