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National Signing Day 2015: Welcome to Penn State, Kevin Givens

One day before National Signing Day, James Franklin grabbed a former Pitt commit who oozes potential.

By Bill DiFilippo

Welcome to Black Shoe Diaries' coverage of National Signing Day 2015. We're here to make sure that you know exactly who the newest Nittany Lions are, where they come from, and what we can expect of them. Each of these reports will include their vital information, their high school statistics, highlight tape analysis, outlook for their freshmen seasons and more. We sincerely hope you enjoy getting to know the stars of tomorrow. If you've been reading along with our recruiting coverage all year, we appreciate the support and are glad you hung around with us for the ride that was the 2015 recruiting class. If you are a new reader, welcome! We're glad you're here, and we hope you stick around for 2016!

To navigate your way to other members of the 2015 recruiting class, simply head back to our draft board and click on the player of your choice.

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Until a recruit signs on the bottom line, he is fair game. This is apparently James Franklin's mentality, as he snatched Kevin Givens away from Pittsburgh the day before National Signing Day. While Givens isn't as highly regarded as some of the other recruits in the 2015 class, he is one of the most intriguing, as he has the potential to be a devastating lineman down the road.

Stats

Hometown: Altoona, PA

High School: Altoona

Position: DE/LB

Height/Weight: 6'2"/245

247Composite Rank: ★★★ (0.8498)

Positional Rank: #42 Weakside Defensive End, #18 Player in Pennsylvania

Commitment Date: February 3, 2015

247 Crystal Ball:

High School Stats

There are no stats for Givens, because MaxPreps.

Highlight Tape

Scouting Report

Givens' raw talent should make you really, really excited. He is somewhere between 6'2" and 6'4", and he is between 227 and 245 lbs. That is all awesome, but he also runs a 4.6 40, which doesn't just mean that he's huge, but it means that he's explosive and carries his weight well (he does play running back in high school, which means he has some kind of athleticism). Givens' strength and athleticism make him a tantalizing prospect, and both of those things are on display on the two highlight videos. Once he puts it all together, he has the potential to be a dynamic pass rusher for the Nittany Lions.

Immediate Outlook

Redshirt, Yes

Givens is interesting, because Penn State could use some depth at defensive end, where he will line up once he gets to Happy Valley. With his speed, strength and athleticism, he can probably play from day one, or at least have the opportunity to earn a chance to play from day one.

However, Penn State still has some serious talent on the edges, and there are a few more higher profile recruits that are coming in that play the same position. Plus Givens could certainly use a year to put it all together and mold himself into a college defensive end into a, well, whatever he is in high school (some weird defensive end/linebacker/running back mashup). He obviously has all of the physical tools to be really good down the road, but that's a few years into the future. Ergo, he's probably going to redshirt.

Everything Else

Welcome to Penn State, Kevin!

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