A look back: Penn State's busiest month in modern recruiting history?
At this point, the question is inevitable.
With the verbal commitment of Cam Miller Monday afternoon, the recruiting haul for head coach James Franklin and the Penn State football program reached a new level of activity in one of the busiest months in recent memory. Now numbering 21 pledges in the Class of 2022, the month of July alone has produced verbals from 10 prospects with an 11th committing in the Class of 2023.
But is it the highest number of verbals Penn State has landed in one calendar month?
Well, actually, no. And the benchmark isn’t so far away to need to dig deep into the archives. The Nittany Lions’ Class of 2020, capping out at 27 members, had a particularly busy summer as well.
That doesn’t mean Penn State’s good fortunes won’t soon eclipse its records, though. With another pair of announcements on deck before the calendar flips to August, athlete Cristian Driver choosing between Penn State and Oklahoma on Thursday, July 29, and three-star safety K.J. Winston picking either the Nittany Lions or Maryland Terrapins on July 31, Penn State’s number could soon climb to as high as 12.
In the modern era of Rivals rankings and its recruiting database, that would stand as a new record for the Nittany Lions.
Here’s a look back at some of Penn State football’s other busiest recruiting months of the past 20 years:
Class of 2020
Off to a similar start as Penn State’s current class, having accrued five commitments in February and April of 2019, Franklin and his staff fired up the engines to produce a burst of commitments through June that would become the core of what would become the nation’s No. 15-ranked class.
Beginning with four-star offensive lineman Olu Fashanu’s verbal on June 3, the Nittany Lions added junior college receiver Norval Black to the mix with a June 9 announcement.
Then the floodgates opened.
In a matter of one week, the Nittany Lions more than doubled the size of their recruiting class when junior college transfer safety Ji’Ayir Brown and receiver Jaden Dottin picked Penn State on June 21, followed by the announcements of defensive tackle Coziah Izzard and Fatorma Mulbah on June 22.
Taking a breather on Sunday and Monday that week, Penn State’s run kickstarted again when three-star linebacker Tyler Elsdon picked the Nittany Lions on June 25, setting up another particularly robust end to the week. Beginning June 27 with the commitment of four-star safety Enzo Jennings, the Nittany Lions topped the halfway point of the class by then adding defensive ends Amin Vanover, a four-star, and three-star Brandon Taylor on June 28.
In all, Penn State added 10 verbal commitments in June alone and would build on it with another string of four commitments in the first five days of July. Nearly finished with its effort for the Class of 2020, Penn State would add only five more commitments to the class from September to December in 2019.
Class of 2006
Only one other time in the past 20 years has Penn State reached double-digits in one month for one of its recruiting classes, this time in January of 2006.
And it was for good reason.
On the heels of the Nittany Lions’ dramatic reentry into college football relevance during their 11-1 2005 season led by captains Michael Robinson, Alan Zemaitis, and Paul Posluszny, head coach Joe Paterno and his staff turned their success into recruiting gold at the season’s end.
Just five days after beating Florida State in a triple-overtime Orange Bowl game, 26-23, the Nittany Lions landed the verbal commitments of five-star defensive back A.J. Wallace on Jan. 8, 2006, and four-star defensive end Maurice Evans. With Wallace ranked as the nation’s No. 19 player overall and its top cornerback, and Evans checking in at No. 46 nationally and No. 3 among all strongside defensive ends, the Nittany Lions had added two of its three highest-ranked pieces in the class in just one day.
One week later, four-star tight end Andrew Quarless picked Penn State on Jan. 14, followed by the commitments of four-star offensive lineman J.B. Walton (Jan. 18), three-star running back Evan Royster (Jan. 21), three-star DE Johnnie Troutman (Jan. 23), four-star OL Antonio Logan-El, four-star defensive tackle Phil Taylor (Jan. 25), and four-star running back Brent Carter (Jan. 26).
In a class that topped out at 24 members, the run of success leading into that February’s Signing Day lifted the Nittany Lions to a No. 6 overall spot in the final Rivals Team Recruiting Rankings, all in just 19 days.
Class of 2009
Aside from a pair of classes, in 2012 and 2014, in which the Nittany Lions produced a seven-man rush toward Signing Day, the only other one-month stretch nearing double digits came in May of 2008.
A few months ahead of Penn State’s long-awaited return trip to the Rose Bowl, the Nittany Lions found their recruiting success explode with their efforts for the Class of 2009 beginning with offensive lineman Mark Arcidiacono’s verbal on the first of May. Rated as an unranked two-star prospect, the Philadelphia area prospect’s commitment was a precursor to increasingly more impressive verbals coming within a week of each other.
First, three-star defensive back Stephen Obeng-Agyapong committed to the Nittany Lions on May 11 with Maryland four-star Darrell Givens, the No. 249-ranked prospect in the country in the Class of 2009. One day later, the DMV train kept rolling when fellow four-star DB Derrick Thomas, No. 232 nationally, also made his pledge to Penn State.
Penn State’s succession of commitments then moved to the offensive line as four-star offensive tackle Eric Shrive, a 6.0-rated prospect and the highest-ranked player in the class at No. 88 nationally, made his announcement on the 15th, followed by two-star Frank Figueroa’s verbal the next day.
Closing out the month with a string of commitments back in Maryland, which ended up producing eight members of the 27-man class, the Nittany Lions landed verbals seven, eight, and nine for the month in three-star DB Stephon Morris, three-star WR Brandon Felder, and three-star DT Sean Stanley.
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