FIVE-STAR 2022 LINEBACKER’S TOP GROUP

Last week five-star linebacker Shawn Murphy released his top eight. This top group included the Nittany Lions.

Murphy has long been high on the Nittany Lions and Penn State is likely in the top two or three of his top eight. While there is no end in sight for Murphy’s recruitment, Penn State should be in this recruitment until the end. It would not be a surprise if this is a recruitment that the Nittany Lions end up winning.

NEW OFFERS

In the past week Phil Trautwein and the Nittany Lions offered three new offensive line scholarship offers in the 2022 recruiting class. These offers went out to George Fitzpatrick, Neto Umeozulu and Cole Hutson.

Fitzpatrick is an offensive tackle from Englewood, Colorado, and Penn State became his 22nd Power 5 offer. As for Umeozulu and Hutson, both hail from the state of Texas and both were offered after new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich came on board. When Yurcich was the offensive coordinator at Texas, both Umeozulu and Hutson were offered by the Longhorns. It appears Yurcich could have played a role in both of those offers. Also, unlike a lot of offers in Texas, they went out to players who already have a relationship with the coaching staff due to Yurcich.

Penn State was done extended offers in the state of Texas. Sunday night, the Nittany Lions offered 2022 wide receiver Noah Thomas.

Thomas is another player who had ties to Yurcich when he was the offensive coordinator at Texas. In fact, Thomas was the first player Yurcich followed on Twitter after being hired at Penn State. When visits resume it would not be a surprise to see Thomas pop up in Happy Valley for a visit.

Another offer that went out in the state of Texas came on Monday night when the Nittany Lions offered 2022 cornerback Julian Humphrey.

Yurcich’s ties to Texas could prove to be similar to the ties JaJuan Seider has to Florida. That means it could lead to an increase in offers with the big goal being to get these kids to campus for visits. Getting these kids on campus for a visit is a victory in itself as it allows you to start to build relationships with their schools. Landing one or two a cycle would make it even better.