On Saturday Penn State held its annual junior day which consisted of 2017 and 2018 recruits. It is believed that as many as 70 recruits made the trip to Happy Valley. It’s safe to say that Saturday may have been Franklin’s best recruiting day ever, and here’s why.
Micah Parsons
Parsons tweeted on Friday that big news was coming, and with him visiting Penn State the next day, many people knew what that news would be.
Parsons committed to Penn State around 3:30 P.M. to start off a big day.
Parsons is 2018 recruit from Harrisburg. He becomes the first member of the 2018 class. Although most recruiting sites do not give out ratings to sophomores, 247 Sports and Scout each rank Parsons as a 5 star and one of the top members of the 2018 recruiting cycle. Parsons comes in a 6’3 235 and held offers from Michigan, West Virginia, Temple, NC State, and Rutgers along with the Nittany Lions.
Parsons will be crucial to help reel in other Harrisburg area recruits for 2018 such as Camp Hill tight end Zack Kuntz and wide receiver Shaquon Anderson-Butts.
Damion Barber
It didn’t take long for Parson’s commitment to show its affects, as another Harrisburg DE, Damion Barber announced his pledge to the Lions a couple hours later. Barber, a three star, becomes Penn State’s third commit in the 2017 class, joining Clifford and Rivers. Coming in at 6’3 240, Barber held offers from Old Dominion, Massachusetts, Iowa State, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Pitt, and Temple.
Penn State is hoping to continue the trend with reeling in top Harrisburg targets, and these two commitments should help that.
Yetur Matos
Just when things couldn’t get any better, they did.
4 star DE Yetur Matos also committed while on the visit, becoming the third commit of the day and the third defensive end of the day. He becomes the fourth member of the 2017 class. Matos has a big frame at 6’5 235 and is from Fredericksburg, Virginia, an area Penn State is hoping to have success in.
Matos racked up a pretty impressive offer sheet that included Cal, Clemson, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Pitt. Brent Pry and Sean Spencer did great work recruiting him.
Speaking of those two, Pry and Spencer must be very happy with the three big time commits they received for their defensive line. A group that could do some damage in the Big Ten.
Good Impressions
Through reaction on twitter, it seemed that the visit was a big hit with most of the visitors. 2017 recruit Elijah Conliffe tweeted ” I know after that visit most of us were ready to commit” that is just a snibit of his tweet. 4 star Ohio safety Amir Riep added that he had a great time, as did linebacker Pete Werner. Penn State also helped their case with their top 2017 target Lamont Wade, the 5 star safety is becoming one of the hottest names in the recruiting cycle. 4 star athlete Derrek Pitts also had a great time according to his twitter. Countless more recruits had positive things to say about their visit.
Lil Wayne also had a great visit to Happy Valley (had a concert) he sent out a tweet that I will paraphrase ” Penn State was dope” ” We are Penn State”
The Lions also put themselves in better position with Kuntz and Anderson- Butts for the 2018 class.
It was a great day for Franklin and staff, one he hopes can build momentum for the next two recruiting cycles.
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