3-2-1: Recruiting, a big decision, and NIL dominate Penn State headlines

From the Nittany Lions latest verbal commitment in a month full of them, to Lonnie White Jr., and the latest in NIL, nothing has slowed down at Penn State as the program nears the start of Big Ten media days and its own preseason practices.

BWI editor Nate Bauer wraps up the week that was for Penn State football and athletics in his weekly 3-2-1 feature.

Without further ado:

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1) Kaytron Allen, Spencer Rolland, and Alex Birchmeier are in

What better way to start than the biggest news of the week for Penn State football?

Rivals four-star Kaytron Allen, the No. 118-ranked prospect and 6th-best running back in the Class of 2022, made his verbal pledge to the Nittany Lions late Friday afternoon. A pledge that built up Penn State's current class to 19 members, Allen's announcement marked the end of yet another busy week for Penn State on the recruiting front.

This week, though, that recruiting activity took shape in a variety of forms.

Though technically not under the "recruiting" umbrella, Penn State's first addition of the week came Wednesday afternoon as Harvard offensive lineman Spencer Rolland announced a graduate transfer to Penn State for the 2022 season. Still set to complete course work in his path toward graduation in this academic calendar, Rolland will join the Nittany Lions next May.

In another recruiting direction, Thursday saw the program pick up a verbal commitment from four-star offensive lineman Alex Birchmeier. The No. 61-ranked prospect nationally in the Class of 2023, Birchmeier's announcement marked the first addition to Penn State's next class, now roughly 17 months ahead of his enrollment.

2) Lonnie White Jr. has a decision to make

Still on the subject of Penn State football's personnel, the long-anticipated moment of truth arrived for receiver commitment Lonnie White Jr. this week when he was selected in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft.

Taken Monday afternoon by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 64th pick, White now officially has a decision to make between a future in baseball (including its immediate compensation) or one in which he proceeds with his plan to play both football and baseball at Penn State. The No. 247-ranked player in the Class of 2021 and a four-star receiver according to Rivals, the details of White's potential payout with the Pirates franchise hasn't yet been reported or announced, but early estimates are for the number to exceed $1 million in guaranteed money.

A choice that will no doubt be complex and difficult, White hasn't so far indicated a timeline for a decision date.

3) Penn State celebrated NIL's arrival

The week began with an all-encompassing "celebratory" event at Beaver Stadium to mark the beginning of the new NIL era in college athletics.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf, state senator Jake Corman, university president Eric Barron, athletic director Sandy Barbour, and a host of Nittany Lion athletes including quarterback Sean Clifford, receiver Jahan Dotson, men's basketball's John Harrar and Sam Sessoms, women's basketball's Anna Camden, and others all gathered to celebrate the onset of compensation possibilities for student-athletes.

While happy to tout the plan Penn State has in place to help its student-athletes carve out a path toward new business opportunities, the event also included an acknowledgment that there is still much to be learned and navigated for both the university and the players themselves.

"There's still lots to be learned out there about this, and obviously (there is) lots to be learned on behalf of our student-athletes. You heard about what this means to them. It's an opportunity,” Barbour said. “The word we are using at Penn State - because I think it captures what this opportunity means - is ‘entrepreneurial.’ The opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial activities of many, many sorts in the exact same way that any student on this campus has, student-athletes did not have the right before. It's what's right, and we're excited to see all they will do with this opportunity.”

1) Will Noah Cain be Penn State's feature running back this season?

A Tuesday Tweet featuring redshirt sophomore Noah Cain plowing through running back drills opened up the door to a question that likely won't be answered immediately, but very well could come to fruition.

In just 13 seconds, Cain's video at least begins to make the case that physically, he's very much capable of the job following a 2020 season that was derailed by injury after only four snaps.

But Cain's ascent back to becoming the starter isn't necessarily the given it might initially seem to be. With experienced returners in junior Devyn Ford and true freshmen Keyvone Lee and Caziah Holmes, plus the transfer in of fifth-year John Lovett out of Baylor, the Nittany Lions' running backs room is once again a crowded, competitive place to be.

If the progress Cain has shown in his brief social media appearances this summer translates to the practice field in preseason camp next month and, maybe more important, once the Nittany Lions hit the turf at Camp Randall a month after that, the question might have an answer and Penn State might have some separation at the position.

2) What's Dani Dennis-Sutton going to do?

Rivals five-star defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, the No. 11-ranked player in the Class of 2022, is set to make his decision next week and, naturally, this is the question everyone is eager to have answered until that day comes.

For Penn State fans, the weather vane pointed as positively as it ever has in Dennis-Sutton's recruitment that the Nittany Lions have a strong position ahead of the Thursday announcement. With BWI lead recruiting analyst Ryan Snyder having logged a Penn State FutureCast pick for Dennis-Sutton on Friday, the countdown is on as the elite prospect weighs his options and makes a pick between his finalists, Penn State and Georgia.

Should Dennis-Sutton land with James Franklin and the Nittany Lions, he'd be the highest-ranked prospect to join the program since Micah Parsons in the Class of 2018.

That's right. I said it.

Admittedly, there is much that needs to be sorted out between now and the start of Penn State's season when it travels to Madison to face Wisconsin on Sept. 4. For as much of a train wreck as the Nittany Lions' COVID-doomed 2020 season proved to be, even a straight-up reading of the program before its preseason and its conclusion demonstrated just how wildly personnel plans can be derailed.

However, if the team that Penn State appears to be today is the one that takes the field against the Badgers in just seven weeks, I like the Nittany Lions' chances. More about the potential I see ahead for James Franklin's group than any vibes coming from the Wisconsin end of things, the season-opener offers an opportunity for this Penn State program to make an immediate announcement on a national stage that its setbacks a year ago haven't carried over.

And really, if Penn State can get that first win, I'm becoming more convinced that Ball State and Auburn, both at Beaver Stadium, are less of a threat than they might currently seem. Surely, Ball State has the preseason buzz as a MAC pick and potential New Year's Six team. And Auburn is Auburn, but for new coach Bryan Harsin, having to take his team far from home that early in the season should be something in which Penn State has some confidence.

Call it intuition, but this is a week in which the daunting nature of Penn State's early season schedule has, at least for me, softened.

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