Oh, Hello: Three-Star Maryland DE Mason Robinson Commits To Penn State

THE SKINNY

Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 230 pounds
Hometown/High School: Owings Mills, MD (McDonogh School)
Ranking: ★★★ (88.17 247Sports Composite)
Notable Offers: Northwestern (previously committed), Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee

HIGHLIGHTS

THE TALE

With Penn State having been no stranger to McDonogh products — PJ Mustipher, Curtis Jacobs, Dvon Ellies, and Dani Dennis-Sutton had all graduated from the school — it was no surprise that the Nittany Lions were on Mason Robinson early in the process. They offered him way back in April 2021, and hosted him for numerous visits over his recruitment.

Unfortunately for Penn State, those visits didn’t originally turn into a commitment, with Robinson picking up a Northwestern offer and committing to the Wildcats a few weeks later in May 2022. James Franklin and Co. kept tabs on the Maryland defensive end though, and when Pat Fitzgerald fired his defensive coordinator and defensive line coach a few weeks back, it gave Penn State a second chance to land Robinson’s commitment.

Following an official visit to Happy Valley this past weekend, exactly that happened, as Robinson decommitted from Northwestern and made the call for the Nittany Lions. He joins Jameial Lyons and Joseph Mupoyi as defensive ends in Penn State’s top 15 ranked 2023 class.

OUTLOOK

Despite the three-star rating, Robinson has been very high on the defensive end board for basically this entire cycle. This wasn’t the case of Penn State offering him and then not pushing hard enough to secure his commitment originally; Robinson, who’s been very focused on academics, just flat out chose Northwestern over Penn State and a host of other schools. Obviously though, the Wildcats’ one-win season and subsequent firing of Robinson’s future position coach was enough to make him reconsider. Safe to say, that the Nittany Lions pounced at the opportunity.

With Robinson’s commitment, Penn State should be all wrapped up at defensive end for the 2023 class. While the class looks a bit different since the days of Neoo Avery and Tomarrion Parker, I think the Nittany Lions have to feel really good about Lyons, Robinson, and Mupoyi. We’ll get into what each brings in the coming days and weeks as our “Meet The Class” series will be back for another recruiting finish, but Penn State gets a little bit of everything from the trio.